When Jesus wrote on the ground; studies, expositions and meditations in the life of the spirit

H633

Hi

WHEN JESUS WROTE
ON THE GROUND

EDGAR DeWITT JONES, D.D.

WHEN JESUS WROTE
ON THE GROUND

Studies, Expositions and Meditations
In The Life of the Spirit

BY

EDGAR DeWITT JONES, D.D.

MINISTER OF CENTRAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH, DETROIT

Author of "The Inner Circle" "The Wisdom of God's
Fools" "Fairhope" etc.

WITH AN APPRECIATION BY

DR. CHARLES CLAYTON MORRISON

EDITOR OF "THE CHRISTIAN CENTURY"

NEW XBjr YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

'5X-T327

COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND. I

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

OCT 12 '■>')

TO

THE MEMBERS AND OFFICE-BEARERS

OF

FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH, BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS

WHERE FOR FOURTEEN YEARS THE AUTHOR
ENJOYED THE HIGH PRIVILEGE OF A FREE PULPIT

AND TO OTHER FRIENDS AND FELLOW-WORKERS
OF THAT COMMUNITY

THIS VOLUME OF SERMONS
IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

EDGAR DeWITT JONES

An Appreciation by
CHARLES CLAYTON MORRISON

Editor of The Christian Century

Those who know Edgar DeWitt Jones, the man,
will keep wishing that all who share with them the in-
spiration of these published sermons might have in
mind the image of the preacher himself. Lucid and
heartening as this printed preaching is, it requires the
personal presence of the preacher to give it its full
power. Such a remark I well know is a commonplace,
and it passes usually as a truism. But it is not always
true. Preachers there are a-plenty whose written
word is discounted by their personalities, just as Paul's
opponents declared that his letters were weighty and
telling, but his personality weak and his delivery be-
neath contempt. We know that in Paul's case this
was simply the talk of his enemies, for the results of
the personal labors of the great apostle are not open
to dispute and the tone of voice in which he defies
his opponents in the later chapters of his Second Corin-
thian letter discloses a sense of personal power which
a man could hardly have gained save by its successful
exercise under many crucial tests.

Yet, however it may have been with Paul, whether
his outer personality put his great soul at a disadvan-

ii AN APPRECIATION

tage as compared to the power expressed in his written
message, the fact remains that the severest test to which
the personality of a minister can be put is not in
preaching to his people but in simply living among
them. To be sure, his preaching is a part of his living,
t>ut his living is more, far more, than his preaching.
No man in the community is subjected to such a search-
ing of the foundations and hidden recesses of his char-
acter as is the minister. He stands in the spotlight of
public attention, not alone when he stands in the pulpit,
but in his daily walk and conversation. He has far less
privacy than any other man. The margin of his de-
portment in which he may be indifferent to the opinion
of others is narrower than in the case of any of his
neighbors. Unless his public message is reinforced by
a personality of depth and grace, his message suffers
great discount. No matter how brilliant a success a
minister may achieve in the pulpit, his success will
lack substance and foundation if his people have to
speak apologetically of the private side of his life. But
if his people see in him the embodiment of those ele-
ments of personal dignity and strength which com-
mand their respect and win their affection, he becomes
one more demonstration of the soundness of that
tradition which places the Christian ministry pre-
eminent among all professions and vocations.

All this is background for saying that in the preach-
ing of Edgar DeWitt Jones the central secret is the
preacher himself. Readers of these sermons who do
not personally know Dr. Jones will find here grace and
charm of expression, vitality of conviction, and un-
usual skill in homiletical craftsmanship. It is to be

AN APPRECIATION iii

hoped that even such readers may be led by the quali-
ties of the sermons to draw a vague mental picture of
the preacher himself, and if so, they are sure to feel
in some subtle fashion the outflow of his personal
power. But those readers who have sat under the
ministry of Dr. Jones, or who have come into any
degree of friendly relationship with him, will approach
these chapters in quite a different mood. For them
his published sermon will not be just a deliverance:
it will be a revelation — a self-revelation of the ideals
and convictions of a personality that has already ar-
rested their interest and won their love. The sermon
will not be merely a piece of writing to be judged
by its intrinsic argument or beauty ; but a human docu-
ment, a letter from a friend whose utterances we hold
as true not so much because he proves them as because
he says them.

I well remember my first personal contact with Dr.
Jones. It was nearly a score of years ago. The occa-
sion was a gathering of ministers at which Dr. Jones
read a paper. He made upon me the impression of a
singularly courtly and gentle spirit. His unusually
prepossessing countenance and physique, his urbanity,
his graceful speech, his genuine consideration of the
feelings and opinions of others created in me the sense
that here was a man of rare inward moral dignity. But
from my detached point of view at the time I could
not help wondering whether the qualities which
charmed us all might not represent his public reaction
to high professional ideals more than the inherent
character of his private self. He was away from home
at the time! And the skeptic in me suggested that

iv AN APPRECIATION

perhaps in the routine of daily living, among people
to whom his affairs were an open book, he would be
found acting in the commonplace role of the rest of us,
as compared to that in which he had exhibited himself
in our formal meeting and friendly intercourse.

Since that first meeting I have seen him in all sorts
of situations. I have seen him in the routine of his
parish, with his neighbors, his churchfolk, his family,
and in the seclusion of his study, and I am bound
to say that I have never seen him in an ungraceful
role. The chivalrous manner, the gentle, considerate
address, the deft use of literary lore, the habit of
carefully formulating his ideas, the elegance and re-
straint of his phrasing, all these I have found through
many years of a friendship based upon the most inti-
mate contacts to be part of the very grain of this
rare minister's nature. I have seen him at play, I
have seen him bearing the burden of great personal
sorrow, I have seen him angry with a godly wrath,
but I have never seen him in a weak or ungraceful
posture. I shall always remember the impression he
made upon me once when protesting against a flagrant
injustice. He voiced his emotion in measured words
the last of which proved to my surprise to be a word
not wholly disallowable by the Christian laity, if con-
fined to the proper occasion, but which one does not
expect a minister to pronounce. There was a certain
majesty about his explosion. One felt the very rafters
of the universe shake. Yet the protest was spoken
gently, quietly, without the slightest loss of poise of
soul. I think that episode gave me a new sounding
of the deeps of my friend's personality. I felt his

AN APPRECIATION y

self-control, his moral power, his leonine vigor as I
had never had occasion to do before. Once I called
on him when he was suffering the intense pain of
illness. I could myself hardly endure the sight of his
anguish. But with grim humor he reminded me be-
tween paroxysms that Ian Maclaren had died of the
thing that was the matter with him! His fineness is
instinctive. Graciousness is either native to him or
the gift of Christ in a thorough-going conversion. He
does not merely contemplate truth and beauty and
strength, and admire them as external objects; they
are part of himself, organic with his personality. When
such a man preaches, therefore, he speaks more than
words — his words are in very truth spirit and life.

It is as a conversationalist that I could wish all
readers of his sermons might know him, as well as a
pulpiteer. I know of no man who combines more
winsomely the ingredients of small talk, casual, spon-
taneous humor, and lofty and earnest discourse in con-
versation than Dr. Jones. An evening with him leaves
one's mind dripping with the juices of literature, of
current events, of whimsical anecdote — the juices, too,
of one's own best ideas ! For he is not that kind of
conversationalist who does all the conversing. He
makes conversation a game of tennis and you are on
your mettle to return the ball. Moreover he plays the
game so as to stimulate your best thinking, not to over-
whelm you by his own. So he always lets you go
with a certain inner feeling of satisfaction with your-
self, not only that you got so much from him, but that
you contributed to the conversation so much yourself,
and did it so well !

vi AN APPRECIATION

As a preacher, face to face with a congregation,
Dr. Jones impresses you as putting his object above his
subject. He has practical ends in view. He wants
this sermon to accomplish some specific thing. It
is not on the level of mere institutional interest that
his object lies — far from that — but in the realm of
human life. He really wants to bring consolation
to the bereaved, courage to the wavering, hope to those
whose heart is the home of shame. I imagine that he
always visualizes some particular mother or youth or
business man, some particular sinner or mourner or
butterfly of fashion, when he speaks to classes of
them. His subject is conscientiously wrought out,
but his object dominates his mind both in the prepara-
tion and delivery of his sermon. This gives point
and concreteness to his message which much thought-
ful preaching lacks.

In his intellectual interests Dr. Jones is one of the
most modern of the moderns. He is an omnivorous
reader. He puts his friends to shame by the wide
range of his knowledge of contemporary literature,
both magazine and book. But he keeps up the old
tradition of literary taste. Throughout the war when
everybody's ears were so dinned with the noise of
urgent current events that they lost interest in anything
that anybody ever said before 191 4, this man would
pass from his morning review of the relative positions
of the armies at the front to a re-reading of Boswell or
Pepys ! He kept his perspective. He could not aban-
don the old books, because they had become his friends.
He had not simply studied them, he had communed
with them, and he has cherished them through these

AN APPRECIATION vii

years of truculent contemporaneity with a devotion
second only to that which he has given his friendships
in the flesh. I do not think the range and depth
of Dr. Jones* intellectual interests are in any adequate
degree indicated in this volume of his sermons, in-
spiring and rich with suggestion as I am sure every
reader will find the book to be. His social convictions
are only suggested here, and I know that these convic-
tions are well seasoned and deep set in his soul. He
has had many a battle with himself to preach this social
gospel in which he truly believes. Pastor for many
years of many men of wealth who rejoiced in the
"comfortable" evangelical burden of his ministry, he
has faced the possibility of alienation of friendships and
serious disturbance of the congregational life, should
he adopt a harsh presentation of these social demands
of Jesus which our generation feels must be applied
to large areas of life unincluded by previous genera-
tions within the scope of Christian ethics. And I know
of nothing in which the pastor-heart has so justified
its impulses as in the way in which it has guided the
pulpit voice of this particular pastor in his utterance
of the social gospel. By instruction most deft and
delicate, the social obligation has been interpreted in
a way that has altogether won many, and those whom
it has not fully won are left with an inner divine dis-
content which is peculiarly salutary.

It is this shepherd instinct that, after all, is the
greatest quality in Edgar De Witt Jones. He loves
people. He believes in them. He invests even the un-
worthiest of them with dignity. And in the spirit of
Jesus he delights to serve them. He is a real pastor.

viii AN APPRECIATION

He knows little children by name, and they cling to
him. His footsteps are acquainted with all the levels
upon which human life holds intercourse. He meets
the man of affairs at his club without constraint, and he
talks to the dear nobody with gentle sincerity and with-
out patronage. The best thing I can say about him is
that I should like him to be my own pastor. I should
like to have him as a counsellor in the things of the
spirit. Just to know that he knew my troubles would
help me bear them, quite aside from any prescription
he might offer. And when my faith was baffled, as
alas, it often is, I think I should find my feet again,
partly by the wisdom of his instruction, but more be-
cause he would lead me by the attractions of his fine
spirit to the rock upon which his own faith seems so
secure.

C. C. M.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 13

Study of an Unconventional Portrait of Jesus.

II WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND ... 29

The "Scarlet Letter" in Our Lord's Time.

Ill THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 43

A Summit View from the Mont Blanc of the
Holy Scriptures.

IV THREE TIMES A DAY 57

A Plea for Fixed Seasons of Private Devotions.

V A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO ... 69

Some Reflections on the Marvel of the Divine
Pursuit

VI THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 8l

How God Schools His Prophets and Provides
for Their Successors

vii habakkuk's hymn 95

A Meditation on the Winged Words of an Old
Testament Saint

VIII THE LADDER OF PRAYER IO5

An Elementary Lesson in the Greatest of
Schools

IX THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM II9

The Deeper Truth Underlying the Vagaries of
Spiritualistic Experiments

X GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES .... I35
How the Divine Spirit Appraises a Christian
Congregation

ix

x CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

XI THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE ..... I47
A Brief for the Family Altar

xii the lord's leading 159

A Meditation on a Memorable Hymn

XIII THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 173

Why Jesus' Peace Differs from the World's
Peace

XIV OTHER SHEEP 185

How the Good Shepherd Regards the Scattered
Flock of God

XV WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP .... I99
A Never-To-Be-Forgotten Day in the Lives of
Four Fishermen

XVI WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? . . 211
The Ministry of the Comforter or "God in
Action"

XVII THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 223

A Hymn of the Nativity Set to Music by the
Holy Spirit.

THE ORDER OF THE TOWEL AND BASIN
Study of an Unconventional Portrait of Jesus

John 13:1-4.

Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus
knowing that His hour was come that He
should depart out of this world unto the
Father, having loved His own that were in
the world, He loved them unto the end. And
during supper, the devil having already put
into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father
had given all things into His hands, and that
He came forth from God, and goeth unto God,
riseth from supper, and layeth aside H;s gar-
ments; and He took a towel, and girded him-
self.

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON
THE GROUND

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN

Some years ago a distinguished American educator
was the guest of a group of Chinese pastors and
teachers in an interior town of that young Republic.
In the course of the conversation he was amazed to
discover how familiar his hosts were with the Gospel
narrative. Nothing seemed to have escaped their
scrutiny, and their knowledge of the details of Jesus*
life fairly startled the American. Something prompted
him to ask them this question : "What incident in the
life of Jesus impressed you most?"

Now this is a question of more than ordinary sig-
nificance. It is a question that a group of English or
American pastors and teachers might ponder with
profit. It is a question that students of the Gospels
for many years, and those familiar with the New
Testament for a life time, ought to weigh carefully
before answering. It is not a question to be answered
offhand or glibly; it warrants a fresh study of the
records and possibly extended reflection. Moreover
13

14 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

by our answer to this query it is possible, at least par-
tially, to appraise us spiritually.

The Chinese Christians thoughtfully considered the
American's question. After a long pause, — so long
that it became embarrassing, — the oldest of the group
replied : "His washing of his disciples' feet." A con-
sensus of opinion showed that the other Chinamen were
in agreement with this answer. That this particular
incident should have impressed the Oriental mind
above any of the miracles of Jesus is, to say the least,
interesting. That a great teacher should take the place
of a slave and perform a menial service seemed more
wonderful to that company of new converts to Chris-
tianity than Jesus' stilling of the storms on Galilee, his
healing of the Gerasene demoniac, or his calling Laza-
rus back to life.

Portraits with our Lord as subject are numerous in
the renowned galleries of the world. In Florence,
alone, there are more than fifteen hundred paintings
with Jesus as theme. The wondrous tints of Del Sarto,
the rich coloring of Titian, the witchery of Raphael's
skill, the exquisite miniatures of Fra Angelico have
helped to fix forever in the minds of the people those
mountain peaks of our Lord's career : the Nativity, the
Temptation, the Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.
It is difficult to think of Jesus in art except in these
crises and epochal experiences of His ministry. One
could wish, however, that a more unconventional por-
trait of Jesus were known in every land where the
sun shines — I mean this portrait of Jesus washing His
disciples' feet.

In the Church of the Divine Paternity, New York,

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 15

where the gifted J. Fort Newton preaches, there is such
a picture done in mosaic and placed above the com-
munion table in the Chancel. On the left is the figure
of John in an attitude of devotion, in the background
Andrew and James the son of Zebedee. Bartholomew
and Philip are seated at the table. Thaddeus and Mat-
thew are standing. Thomas and Judas seated. Judas
is placed in the foreground balancing Philip on the
left. In the center Christ is shown in the act of wash-
ing the feet of Simon Peter. The coloring scheme is so
arranged as to throw the central figures in the light with
darker and richer shades on the extreme edges. It is a
beautiful and impressive picture, and the more so be-
cause it is an unconventional portrait of Jesus, one that
shows Him in the humblest of ministries. In fancy we
may gaze upon this rich mosaic as we reflect upon the
meaning of the deed it commemorates.

It was a daring act of Jesus, this washing of His
disciples' feet. It was unexpected and altogether con-
trary to the rank of a teacher or seer. A menial service
such as this was the duty of a slave, and in the absence
of a servant from the upper room each of the disciples
should have performed the act for the other. But the
minds of the twelve were far removed from so lowly a ;
ministration; therefore Jesus took the towel and the
basin and began to bathe the dusty feet of one of the
twelve. It is difficult to imagine any other teacher of
Jesus' day at this servant's task. By no leap of fancy
can one think of the great Gamaliel engaged in so lowly
an occupation. It was a bold and daring act on the

16 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND
j

> part of Jesus, and in perfect keeping with the ven-

turesomeness that characterized His ministry for man-
kind. It was this quality — fearlessness to over-ride

\ tradition and willingness to plough straight across clas9
distinction in order to serve humanity — that signalized
the ministry of our Lord. He dined freely at the homes
of notorious sinners, and the despised Publicans were
His friends. The fact that the woman of Sychar had
"a past" did not deter Him from engaging her in con-
versation; if anything, it increased His desire to help
her find "the way home." It was this quality of cour-
age to brave custom and challenge traditions that made
the early church so unconquerably persistent. Those
early disciples of Jesus hazarded everything for the

) sake of a great cause. They jeopardized comfort, posi-
tion, family ties, even life itself, with magnificent aban-
don. "Safety last" was the motto of the men and wo-
men who established the Brotherhood of Christ in a
thousand fields where darkness reigned. Modern
Christianity sorely needs this venturesomeness ; this
dauntless spirit that laughs at difficulties ; balks at noth-
ing; welcomes opposition; and marches straight into
peril unafraid. In truth, there can be no real mission-
ary passion without this divine recklessness as to what
happens to oneself. There is no place where a Chris-
tian cannot go when his purpose is good and the oc-
casion warrants his going.

There is a widely known and successful minister in
Baltimore, a Virginian by birth, who is the most cour-
teous and delightful of men. There is something al-
most womanly in his gentle ways and kindly address.
But withal there is a daringness in his faith and a cer-

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 17

tain boldness of spirit. In witness of this, an incident
of his ministry is recalled. For several Sundays in
succession this able preacher had observed a stranger
in his audience and one who seemed to be greatly in-
terested in the service. He made several attempts to
see this stranger at the close of the service, but un-
successfully. No sooner was the benediction pro-
nounced than the man hurried out of the church. Af-
ter a good deal of difficulty he discovered that this man
was the proprietor of a drinking place and also his
place of business. One afternoon the minister passed
through the swinging doors of the saloon and, seeing
the owner behind the bar, he went over to him and
shook hands with him. The man was much confused
and greatly embarrassed. "I am glad to see you, Dr.

A but not in this place. I would like to have

you come to see me at my home." "My friend/5 replied
the minister, "if this place is good enough for you to
do business in, it is good enough for me to come to
see you in." This was unanswerable, so the proprietor
removed his white apron, came from behind the bar,
and with his guest sat down at one of the tables in the
midst of men who were drinking, laughing, and telling
ribald stories. From that visit and conversation there
came about the conversion of that man to the Chris-
tian faith, his giving up the liquor business, and the
consequent regeneration of his life. Oh, for a daring
ministry, a dauntless discipleship of Jesus, an unbeat-
able Church !

Yes, when Jesus took the towel and the basin and
proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples there was
daring and audacity in the act. Christianity can never

18 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

amount to much in any community where its adherents
are slow to go into the midst of sin and misery, fearful
lest thereby they lose their religion. Those who possess
that spirit have little religion to lose and certainly none
to impart. The great sore spots of the world cannot be
cured by absent treatment. The last time that General
William Booth visited America, he told how he came to
organize the Salvation Army. He went over on the
east side of London and there he saw the vice, the
crime, and the suffering of the people. "I hungered for
hell," he said; "for days I stood in the seething streets,
drinking it in and loving it all. Yes, I loved the souls
that made up the muddy stream." That phrase "hun-
gering for hell" is drastic, but not too drastic. It is
better to "hunger for hell" in the sense that Booth used
the term than it is to "hunger for heaven" in that selfish
sense of desiring to attain unto bliss, and in so doing
abandon the sin-cursed multitudes to their fate.

ii

Jesus washed His disciples' feet and in that act He
rebuked their selfish neglect and unlovely controversy
far more effectively than the most scathing words
could have done. Canon Farrar thinks that as the di-
sciples were seating themselves at the table the contro-
versy arose over the seat of honor which each wanted
for himself. This may have been the case. It is in
Luke 22 '.24.-30 where we learn that the discussion took
the form of an argument as to who should be the
greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Luke says there
was a "contention" among them. Thus in the disciples'
contention for place, rank, power, and authority, the

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 19

humble preparation for the meal — the washing of their
travel-stained feet — was ignored or forgotten. Be-
sides, such was a servant's task, and not one of the
twelve was minded to take the towel and the basin and
do this lowly service, each for the other. Jesus took
in the situation at a glance. He saw the mood of the
disciples; the contention had inflamed them. They
were angry and filled with pride, and possibly envy.
They were thinking of scepters, of thrones, and crowns;
they were high-minded and haughty of heart. He
might have rebuked them sternly, even sarcastically,
if indeed our Lord ever spoke on that wise. But He
said not a word. Instead He took a towel, twisted it
about his waist like a girdle ; then a basin, poured water
in it, and kneeling down began to wash the feet of a
guest. Those who saw the "Passion Play" in 1910 will
never forget the exceeding great tenderness of the
scene when Anton Lang, as Jesus, knelt at the feet of
Johan Zwink, who impersonated Judas Iscariot, and
began to wash his feet. It was more memorable than
the famous trial or crucifixion scenes. It moved the
spectators to tears.

Christ washed the feet of Judas!
And thus a girded servant, self-abased,
Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven
Was e'er too great to wholly be effaced
And thus unasked, in spirit be forgiven.

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things
into His hands, and that He came forth from God, and
goeth unto God, riseth from supper, and layeth aside
His garments; He took a towel, and girded Himself."
Here is a new idea of Godlikeness, a new conception

20 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

of Divinity. And that the only begotten of the Father
should thus take upon himself the service of a menial,
and with such winsomenese withal, is too wonderful for
us to comprehend. And yet, since God is Love how
could it be otherwise.
yc. In that act of washing the disciples* feet Jesus washed
| more than the soil from off their flesh. What He did to
their hearts was greater than what He did for their
bodies. By that act He washed away envy and sordid
ambition, jealousy and foolish pride, from the hearts
of the eleven. Even Judas could never be the same
man again after the Master had thus washed his feet.
Who knows how closely related was Judas' recollection
of this ineffable act and his flinging the blood money
at the feet of the priests crying: "I have sinned in
that I have shed innocent blood." Love is never so
powerful as when it glows in acts, when it pulsates
deeds. Example is as much better than precept as is
character than ceremony. Men have a habit of forget-
ting what we say in supreme moments but they never
forget what we do in hour of crisis. What is there so
great and so melting as sacrificial love? To what un-
expected ends and to what renunciations will such
love go.

I recall an incident, an unconventional episode, one
too in which a minister was the central figure, a man
justly famed for his singularly upright and beautiful
life; the most fully orbed minister of Christ's Gospel it
has been my good fortune to know. This man has a
dislike for tobacco that amounts almost to antipathy.
He deplores its use in any form and particularly abhors
a pipe. It came about that his only son early took to

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 21

smoking and by a strange irony he chanced to prefer a
pipe most of all. The great-hearted father was pained
and disappointed, but he took, as was his wont, the
larger view, going so far as to tell the youth that if he
was determined to smoke it was unnecessary for him
to go away from the house to indulge the habit. Some
months later, possibly a year, this minister consulted
his daughter, who was also the keeper of his home,
as to what practical Christmas gift she thought he
should purchase for her brother, something too that
he would especially prize. The young woman an-
swered immediately and definitely, "Get him a pipe,
father, he needs a new one." The minister showed the
surprise he felt. "But you would scarcely expect me to
do that, daughter/' he replied. "Father, you asked me
what practical gift brother would appreciate, and I an-
swered you accordingly. He certainly needs a new
pipe." The father made no further reply but into his
calm, strong face there came a look that only love
can impart. Christmas morning in the minister's home
the gifts were distributed, after the family's custom.
The father handed his son a package. The lad un-
wrapped it, never suspecting what the gift might be.
When he saw what it was he looked at his father, then
at the pipe, then back again at his father, and as he
saw the love light shining in those dear eyes and light-
ing up the strong face, the boy understood. He dropped
the pipe and sprang to his father's side, threw his
arms around him, and, laying his head on his father's
shoulder, burst into tears ! Oh, the power, the glory,
the wonder of the ministry of the towel and the basin !

22 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

in

Jesus' lowly act in the upper room was a token, a
\ sign for all who would be like Him. "A servant," He
said, "is not greater than his Lord; neither one that
is sent than He that sent him. I have given you an
example that ye also should do as I have done unto
you." In so saying, Jesus did not institute an ordi-
nance to be perpetuated by the ceremonial washing of
His disciples' feet; He performed a necessary service,
lowly and menial only in the eyes of those who thought
so. The lesson here is that no position in life, no
rank or wealth absolves a follower of Jesus from a
similar service. Jesus taught by this significant inci-
dent that the giving of a cup of cold water, the assist-
ing of a decrepit man, an aged woman, or an affrighted
little child across a crowded street; a word of encour-
agement, a letter of comfort, counsel, or congratulation ;
a cheerful, happy smile, a simple "thank you" for the
slightest service rendered is the privilege of us all and
becomes the mighty and the famous as well as the
obscure and the unknown.

I number among my friends a man who knew inti-
mately David Swing. He has told me many things
about that great preacher whose influence still lives,
the most interesting being an incident of the great
Chicago fire. He described for me the famous preacher
in the midst of a mass of humanity, fleeing from the
burning district. The refugees were carrying house-
hold articles and personal belongings of almost every
description and kind — bedding, clothing, books, dishes
and all sorts of odd keepsakes. A little girl had

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 23

brought her pet bird. She carried the cage with diffi-
culty and the crowd jostled her roughly. By and by
the crowd became so great and the pressure so strong
that the little girl began to cry for the safety of her
pet. Dr. Swing heard the sobbing, saw the child's
plight, and came at once to her aid. He clasped the
little girl's hand in one of his own and with the other
lifted high the bird cage above the heads of the people.
Thus the great preacher and the little girl went their
way through the vast crowd that awful night, and the
troubled heart of the child was comforted and con-
tented.

It was after the washing of His disciples' feet that
Jesus said, "A new commandment I give unto you,
that ye love one another, even as I have loved you that
ye also love one another. By this shall all- men know
pat ye are My disciples if ye have love one for an- '
other." This, then, is the badge of discipleship ; this
symbol of the towel and basin; this manifestation of I
love in deed; by this sign of the towel and basin does
Christianity conquer. This, my brethren of the min-
istry, is the order for us, not the order of the book
and pen, alluring though that ministry may be; nor
the order of the office and executive staff, efficient as
that kind of service often is, but the order of the towel
and the basin — this is the order for all who would
follow Jesus Christ.

Forty years ago Bismarck said that in order to
mold the nation it was necessary to mold the child.
That is precisely what Germany did and with char-
acteristic thoroughness. It is not difficult to account
for the unity and solidarity of the German people.

24 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

German statesmen, schoolmasters, preachers, and par-
ents combined to Prussianize the children of the
Empire. The ideal they conspired to keep before the
child in the home, school, and church is seen in this
excerpt from the writings of a distinguished Prussian :
"When our young children have scarce learned to
fold their little hands before God, we set a picture be-
fore them; we tell them to recognize the noblest fea-
tures; we tell them, 'This is our good King.' Our
young men, when they are of age to bear arms, look
with joy and pride on the trim garb of war and say, T
go in the king's coat.' And when the nation assembles
to a common political celebration the occasion is no
feast of the constitution, no day of the Bastille, no
Panathenaic festival. It is then that we bow in rever-
ence and loyalty before him who has allowed us to see
with our own eyes that for which our fathers dreamed
and yearned, before him who ever extends the bounds
of the kingdom in freedom, prosperity, and righteous-
ness; before his majesty, the emperor and king."

What is it that society most needs at this hour?
Surely the world is sick and civilization is stricken with
a deadly malady. Numerous indeed are the remedies
that are suggested. Some say a revival of conscience, I
of common honesty, of simple truthfulness is impera-
tive; others clamor for a new economic order, an in-
ternational comity, a world sense of social justice; still
others contend that ajl is hopeless until there be a
new evaluation of spiritual verities. But one distin-
guished American when asked by a friend this question,
startled him with the reply that the country's greatest

THE TOWEL AND THE BASIN 25

need is an Emperor. Then he added, "And that
Emperor's name is Jesus Christ."

Behold our Emperor! Behold Him girded with a
towel, and kneeling as He washes His disciples' feet
Behold Him there in the upper room ! No warlike ap-
parel, no breast emblazoned with decorations and in-
signia, no sword in His hand or at His side. Behold
Him the mightiest of the holy and the holiest of the
mighty, teaching the supremacy of service, the holiness
of ministration, the Godlikeness of love ! Behold Him,
believe Him, and follow Him, O members of the order
of the Towel and Basin !

II

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

"The Scarlet Letter" in our Lord's Time. An Ex-
position of John 8:1-11

John 8:1-11.

[But Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
And early in the morning He came again into
the temple, and all the people came unto Him;
and He sat down, and taught them. And the
scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken
in adultery; and having set her in the midst,
they say unto Him, Teacher, this woman hath
been taken in adultery, in the very act. Now
in the law Moses commanded us to stone such :
what then sayest thou of her? And this they
said, trying Him, that they might have
whereof to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped
down, and with his finger wrote on the
ground. But when they continued asking
Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto
them, He that is without sin among you, let
him first cast a stone at her. And again He
stooped down, and with His finger wrote on
the ground. And they, when they heard it,
went out one by one, beginning from the eld-
est, even unto the last: and Jesus lifted up
Himself, and said unto her, Woman, where
are they? Did no man condemn thee? And
she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said,
Neither do I condemn thee : go thy way ; from
henceforth sin no more.]

II

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

There is a curious fact in connection with this pas-
sage of Scripture. In the Revised Version, the eleven
verses together with the last verse of the preceding
chapter are set off by themselves and bracketed. At
the bottom of the page is a notation which reads,
"Most of the ancient authorities omit John 7 153, 8:1-
11. Those which contain it vary much from each
other." What does this mean? It means that this
particular Scripture is not a part of the original manu-
script of John's Gospel. It signifies, not that the inci-
dent is unauthentic, but that it is not entitled to a place
in this particular book or gospel without explanation.
Even a casual student of the Scriptures will observe
that the incident has little or no connection with what
goes before or comes after; that it breaks in unex-
pectedly upon John's quiet discursive narrative. It is
an interloper, so to speak, and properly belongs set off
and bracketed, by itself.

The interesting question is, how does an interpola-
tion of this kind come about. It is not an isolated in-
stance, but one of two or three. The sixteenth chapter
of Mark, from the ninth to the nineteenth verses, is of
a similar character; that is, it does not belong to the
original Gospel of Mark. The explanation is simple.
29

30 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

There is recorded in the four Gospels only a small por-
tion of what Jesus said and did. John himself says in
the last verse of his Gospel, "There are also many other
things which Jesus did, the which if they should be
written every one, I suppose that even the world itself
would not contain the books that should be written.' '
This is, of course, a dramatic and emphatic way of say-
ing that only a few of the incidents in the life of Jesus
have been preserved in the sacred writings. Before
these records were written down in the form that we
now have them, they were committed to memory and
passed on from person to person orally. It must be
true in the very nature of the case that we have only
fragments of Jesus' teaching, although they are suffi-
cient for their purpose. It would not be at all sur-
prising, however, now that the Turk has been driven
out of Palestine, that excavations in the vicinity of
Jerusalem should reveal additional manuscripts of say-
ings and events in His life, and possibly epistles of
Paul.

With these facts in mind we are in a position to un-
derstand why this memorable incident is bracketed
and set apart in the Revised Version of the Holy Scrip-
tures. To summarize: it does not belong properly to
John's Gospel, but the truth of the incident is not at all
questioned. Indeed the episode bears upon its face the
credentials of fact. It paints a portrait of Jesus, in
perfect keeping with the record of His life in the Gos-
pels, in the midst of a very unusual and trying situation.

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 31

The incident evidently occurred at that period in
Jesus' ministry when His popularity with the masses
had intensified the hatred of the Scribes and Pharisees
against Him. Moreover His denunciation of many of
the religious leaders of His day as "Blind guides/'
"Hypocrites," "Whited sepulchers," had fed their
wrath to a white heat. Thus while He is teaching in
the Temple the Scribes and the Pharisees bring a
woman before Him, and charge her with having broken
the seventh commandment. They testify against her
and aver that beyond any doubt she is guilty. They
cite with unction the Law of Moses, which commanded
such a transgressor to be stoned, and submit the case
to Jesus with the query, "What then sayest Thou of
her?"

Now the purpose of this most unusual occurrence is
indicated in the sixth verse, "That they might have
whereof to accuse Him." They did not bring the
woman to Jesus because they were deeply grieved or ]
shocked at her conduct. They were not interested in
the morals of Jerusalem particularly. They brought
her that they might confuse and entrap Jesus. There
is something diabolical in such a purpose, and the
method the enemies of Jesus resorted to in this instance
to carry it out. To come bringing this woman into the
presence of Jesus with such a charge reveals a hardness
of heart that is almost incredible. The wily Scribes
and Pharisees tried upon numerous occasions to entrap
Jesus in His talk, but in no other record of their malig-
nant trickery is there such a vehicle employed as in this

32 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

incident. They simply took advantage of the guilt of
this woman to further their own evil designs against
Jesus. They reasoned that He would be disconcerted,
to say the least. They believed they had Him between
the horns of a dilemma, and that they had Him fast.
If He said "let the woman die in accordance with the
Law of Moses," they could frame an accusation against
Him before Pilate, that this new King or religious
teacher was actually presuming to judge cases involving
life and death. If, on the other hand, He bade them to
let the woman go, they could charge Him with heretical
teaching, and brand Him as a traverser of the Law of
| Moses. We may believe that they fairly chortled in
their malicious glee.

The scene was one of shameful depravity, a strange
commingling of indelicacy and brazen effrontery. Be-
hold that strange court! There is the calm and pure-
hearted, clear-eyed Christ; there the company of
Scribes and Pharisees, self-righteous, hating the Gali-
lean teacher, congratulating themselves that they have
caught Him at last in the snare from which He cannot
^escape; and there in the midst is the pitiful spectacle of
the woman charged with the transgression of the Law.
The poor woman shrinks from such cruel and uncalled-
for public arraignment, knowing full well that her
accusers have not haled her before this Teacher be-
cause they are shocked by her guilt or interested in the
morals of Jerusalem. It is a most unlovely scene. No
wonder few sermons are preached upon this incident,
or that commentaries touch lightly upon this fragment
appended to John's Gospel.

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 33

ii

It is difficult to portray what must have been the
feelings of Jesus, but there is a wealth of suggestion
as shown by His actions that followed this unseemly «
act. Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger
on the ground. The very act is significant and is one
of those little human touches which bring Jesus close
to us. For instance, a friend engages you in conver-
sation at a street corner. The talk takes a personal
turn, and as you listen you draw lines or figures in the
dust of the street with the toe of your shoe, your cane
or umbrella. Or again, you are talking over the tele-
phone, and the while you draw pictures or make fig-
ures on a piece of paper, or scribble on the cover of
the telephone directory. This is characteristic of hu-
man nature; it is sometimes a token of emotion or
confusion, oftener a mere diversion. In Jesus' case,*
however, it indicated something more than embarrass-
ment and something less than confusion. The sheer
coarseness of the thing, the indelicacy of the act on
the part of the woman's accusers of bringing her before
Him; their malignant desire to entrap Him — all this
reacted upon the keen mind and pure heart of Jesus
in such a way that He did not care to look upon the
guilty woman, nor meet the impudent stare of her hard-
hearted accusers. Therefore, He stooped down and
wrote on the ground.

The accusers of the woman mistook the action of
Jesus. They thought they saw in His averted face
and His writing upon the ground confusion and deep
embarrassment. They assumed He did not know how

34 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

to answer them. Therefore, they pressed Him the
more for an answer. Alas ! for them, they got an an-
swer they little expected. Jesus lifted Himself up and
said unto them, "He that is without sin among you
let him first cast a stone at her." Then He stooped
down and with His finger again wrote on the ground.
That was a surprise to the group of Scribes and
Pharisees. They never surmised such an answer as
that. Instantly each man was compelled to sit in judg-
ment upon himself. Immediately after Jesus' answer,
not only the accused but the accusers were on trial. In
this connection there is a most interesting flashlight
upon this entire passage of Scripture. The notation in
the Revised Version informs us that this incident varies
much in the various manuscripts where it is found. In
one of the manuscripts there is a startling difference in
the eighth verse. The sentence is made to say, "He
wrote upon the ground the sins of each single one of
them," and the ninth verse, "And they when they read
it, went out one by one, beginning from the eldest
even unto the last." This gives an extra dramatic
setting to Jesus' answer and the writing on the ground-
Imagine the scene according to this reading. The
Pharisees bring in the woman, they make their charge.
Jesus, affecting not to hear them, writes on the ground.
They continue to badger Him until He looks up and
says, "He that is without sin among you let him first
cast a stone at her." Then again he stoops down and
writes upon the ground. What is He writing there?
The foremost Pharisee is, of course, the oldest, for
according to the custom of the Orient the oldest in the
company is at the front. This old Pharisee looks down

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 35

on the ground where Jesus is writing, and there he
sees that Jesus has just written the record of a great
sin that he has committed, and which he thinks is
known to no one but himself. His conscience awakes
with a flash. He turns swiftly and edges away from
the crowd. Jesus has swept His hand across the ground
to smooth it over and writes again. The next Pharisee
reads and recognizes a hidden scene in his life, and he
too, flees, and thus it goes on until all the accusers one
by one, having seen written on the ground their own
secret sin, depart silently and swiftly, leaving the
woman alone with Jesus.

This version of the memorable incident may not be
the correct one, but it is interesting and precisely to
the point. Whether or not Jesus actually wrote on the
ground the specific sin of each man, His very act of
silence and of eloquent indictment sent a chill of self-
judgment to every man's soul. What ! only those with-
out sin cast a stone at this sinful woman. It was an
embarrassing answer. It went straight home. Not a
man could meet the test. They went out from the eldest
to the youngest, having adjudged themselves to be
guilty. There is a far-reaching rebuke and warning
in the answer of Jesus to the Scribes and Pharisees.
Nothing is easier than the picking out of a person who
has committed a notorious sin and in self-righteous
pride pointing the finger of scorn at the poor unfortu-
nate. It has been one of the travesties of justice that
individuals have been made to suffer for crimes,
while communities that were particeps criminis have
gone scot-free. Every wrong that is committed by an
individual has in one way or another a rootage in the

36 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

wrong of a community. We are under obligation to
revise our methods of dealing with sin and transgres-
sion of the moral law. As members of society we are
in part to blame. Each one of us has a share in the
crime of poverty, drunkenness, and the long list of sins.
Not each one of us is individually guilty, but we are a
part of an order of society that has produced and some-
times fostered these delinquencies.

in

The accusers one by one go away and Jesus is left
alone with the accused. Again it is not difficult to
imagine the scene. There is Jesus with His stainless
life, His pure heart and clean mind; and there before
Him is the woman who feels in her soul the search-
ing purity of the Teacher to whom she has been
brought. She makes bold to look in His eyes and
upon His face, and in the presence of such wholeness
of character, she sees her own life, and away deep
\ down chords begin to vibrate that have been silent
for years. What will Jesus do with the woman ? Will
He rebuke her ? Will He deal with her as He did with
the Scribes and Pharisees? Never. He lifted Himself
up and said unto her, "Woman, where are they? Did
no man condemn thee?" And she said, "No man,
Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn thee;
go thy way, from henceforth sin no more." Jesus saw
that this woman was self -condemned, and out of peni-
tence there comes always a new life. He sought to
restore confidence and impart hope to this woman by
letting her know that He believed in her. Others
might expect her to sin; He expected her to abandon

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 37-

sin. The very attitude that Jesus took toward her
brought about a new attitude on her part toward her
sin. There is no making light of her sin on Jesus'
part, but the dealing with the situation in such a way
as to bring about repentance which is a ceasing to do
evil and a learning to do well. m

We do not know what became of this woman. She *
drops out of the narrative as abruptly as she came in,
but we may believe that from that hour she was a
changed soul. The recollection of that experience
would be a memory to bless and burn. We have a
right to believe that she went away from the presence
of Jesus that memorable day with hope singing in her *
heart. Oh, that the world would begin to deal with
men and women according to the standard of Jesus
Christ. Society has been slow to adopt the single
standard of morality. Woman is the age-old sufferer
— man the long time privileged sex. On the whole this
is "a man's world." Only since the great war has
England placed both sexes on an equality in the matter
of divorce. Hitherto the husband could divorce his
wife for infidelity to the marriage vow, the wife had
no recourse against her husband for a similar wrong.
In one of our states, until a few years ago, the law
permitted a husband to obtain a divorce upon proof of
a single violation of the marriage vow, while the wife
was compelled to prove habitual violation on the part
of her husband. The debt of woman to the teachings
and spirit of Jesus is unpayably great. He championed
her rights as He did the rights of the child. In this
singularly impressive incident of the lone woman and
her accusers, there is more than a suggestion of the

38 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

right method to pursue in dealing with sin and society.
Penalizing the woman and letting the man go free is
neither just nor expedient.

"Christ's method of dealing with the social evil,"
said Dr. Lyman Abbott, "is in principle precisely the
same as His method of dealing with crime — the method,

(not of permission and regulation, not of mere prohibi-
tion and punishment, but of compassion and cure. It
is the method which Christian charity is pursuing with
reasonable measure of success in individual cases — but,
alas! in too few. It condemns licentiousness in man
and woman alike — in one no less than in the other. In
so far as this licentiousness is a violation of the social
order, Christ's method would prohibit it by law. The
lawbreaker would be arrested, not to be punished for
her sin, but to be cured of it, to be separated from the
evil influences which would lead her into paths of vir-
tue, and wherever the cure could not be effected, to be
kept in confinement for the rest of her life, not to pun-
ish her for past sin, but to protect her and to protect
the community from sin in the future. Not until our
civilization shall have wrought out in life what Haw-
thorne wrought out in 'The Scarlet Letter' and the
man takes his stand in the pillory by the woman, and
the scarlet letter is on the breast of the one as on the
breast of the other, and both alike bear the ineffable
shame, and each helps the other back to the ineffable
| glory, shall we find Christ's remedy."

In connection with this Scripture I recall an episode
which will remain with me as long as memory lasts.
A member of the church to which I minister brought
to my study a young woman whom she had res-

WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND 39

cued from the streets. The girl — for she was little
more — was the victim of betrayal, and had been driven
away from her makeshift of a home and deserted. She
was different from most of her type, the charm of
modesty was not all gone, the bloom of maidenhood had
not been entirely destroyed. She was broken utterly
and desired to begin life all over again and accept Jesus
as her Saviour and Friend. She had had little, if any,
religious training and knew scarcely nothing of the
content of the Scriptures, even the Gospels. As I
looked at her I was deeply touched by her plight. She
resembled a beautiful winged butterfly that had been
caught in a driving rain, beaten to earth, bruised and
unable to fly. I found speech difficult and decided to
read to her from the New Testament. Something
prompted me to turn to this passage from St. John
which I read slowly and without comment. When I
had finished I looked up to see before me a face trans-
figured, though suffused with tears. Her eyes were
wet but eloquent with the speech her tongue could not
tell ; they spoke as so many words and said : "Is that
in the Bible ? Did Jesus say that ? O, God be praised !
there is hope and pardon for me, even me!"

Ill

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS

A Summit View From the Mount Blanc of the Holy-
Scriptures

John 17:4.

I glorified Thee on the earth, having accom-
plished the work which Thou hast given me
to do.

John 17:15.

I pray not that Thou shouldest take them
from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep
them from the evil one.

John 17:19.

And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that
they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

John 17:20-21.

Neither for these only do I pray, but for
them also that believe on me through their
word ; that they may all be one ; even as Thou,
Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they
also may be in us : that the world may believe
Thou didst send me.

John 17:26.
I in them.

Ill

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS

When John Knox, the famous Scotch reformer,
was dying, his wife sat by his bedside and asked if she
should read from the Word. "Yes," he replied, "where
I first cast anchor." Thereupon she read from John,
the seventeenth chapter. As the dying man grew
weaker and the power of speech failed him, another
standing by called to him loudly as to one journeying
afar, "John Knox, hast thou hope?" He slowly lifted
his finger and pointed upward. That was all, and that
was enough.

Others besides Knox have called for this chapter as
the lamp of life grew dim. It is said of Bossuet, the
renowned French preacher, that by his request this
chapter was read to him sixty times during his last
illness. Profounder Scripture than this there is not
in all the Bible. It is the great High Priestly prayer of
our Lord, and there is none like it. In the course of his
last lecture given shortly before his death, Melanchthon
said: "There is no voice which has ever been heard
either in heaven or in earth, more exalted, more holy,
more fruitful, more sublime, than this prayer offered
up by the son of God." Fitting, is it not, that at the
close of his most remarkable discourse there should
follow this most remarkable of His prayers? The
43

44 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

twenty-six verses of this chapter fall naturally into four
sections: First, Jesus' prayer for Himself; second,
Jesus' prayer for His disciples ; third, Jesus' prayer for
subsequent believers; and fourth, a final confidential
utterance from Son to Father.

One approaches this intercessory prayer of Jesus'
with something akin to awe. A great and devout stu-
dent of the Scriptures who spent a life interpreting and
proclaiming the Gospel, never felt himself equal to at-
tempt a sermon on John seventeen. It is possible to
understand such a view without endorsing it. For the
same reason an artist might refuse to paint the ocean
because the waters of the great deep are so vast and
wonderful; or hesitate to put a mountain scene upon
canvas because, at its best, such a picture would be
partial and incomplete. This great prayer has been
preserved, not merely for our admiration, but for our
study and instruction. It may be remarked in passing
that the key words of the chapter are "glorify," "keep,"
and "sanctify."

I GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH J HAVING ACCOM-
PLISHED THE WORK WHICH THOU HAST GIVEN ME TO
DO. AND NOW, FATHER, GLORIFY THOU ME WITH
THINE OWN SELF WITH THE GLORY WHICH I HAD

with thee before the world was." The marvel of
these words is twofold. They show that God is glori-
fied most by a life obedient to His will ; that character,
and not time, is most necessary in order to do our
work. There is something positively sublime in the
attitude of Jesus here, as fully conscious that He had

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 45

yielded perfect obedience to the Father's will. This is
something more than "Well done, thou good and faith-
ful servant." Here is a life owning such one-ness with
the Father and consciousness of duty done, so as to be
able to say in truth, "Father, I have done Thy will on
earth as it is done in heaven." Only thirty-three years
of life and yet completion crowns Jesus' career. What
orderliness there was in His life, no haste, no flurry,
no perturbation, but calm and quiet doing of His work
to the end. How such lofty achievements contrast with
our lives, so incomplete, so fitful, so feverish, and un-
finished. Thus a great scientist nearing the end of
his course cried : "Oh, that I had another century to
live! I have just begun to learn." Thus an eminent
author, when informed by his physician that he was
incurably ill, thought of his unfinished manuscript and
exclaimed, "Oh, my book, my book!" Likewise Arch-
bishop Ussher prayed with dying breath, "O God, for-
give my sins, especially my sins of omission." Con-
sider our own lives, how fragmentary they are, and
particularly our lives as confessed followers of the
Christ. Why, we have not fairly begun to live in
Him. We are mere novices in the school of prayer ; we
are unacquainted with great and rich expanses of His
holy Word; we are in the primary grade in the things
of the Spirit. Oh, the things undone, what a host
they are! "Unfinished!" we exclaim, and truthfully.
Yet we catch glimpses here of a way of life possible to
us beyond anything we have ever dared to dream. We
learn here that life cannot be reckoned by figures on a
dial, or dates on the calendar. Three and thirty years
He lived in the narrow confines of a little strip of

46 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

territory not great in the eyes of the world, neverthe-
less, Jesus could say, "I have finished the work Thou
hast given me to do."

It is because He has finished His God-given task
that Jesus is able to pray to the Father, asking that
He glorify Him with the glory which He had, before
the world was. The life with which we have to do in
this chapter of chapters, neither began nor ended in
the Palestinian country. Geography can have little, if
any, bearing upon things Eternal. "Before Abraham
was, I am." Thus He once spoke simply and as a
matter of course of the life He had with the Father
before "the World was." In Christ, and only in Him,
have we an understandable conception of eternal life;
our relation to God and to one another in the terms of
the Spirit. Nor are we to think of Eternal life as
merely the prolongation of our days, but a life under
new conditions and deriving power from new sources.
A life of one dimension, however extended, is not neces-
sarily a full or desirable life. To summarize Christ's
prayer for Himself : He presents Himself as the duti-
ful Son, who has glorified the Father by perfect obedi-
ence; a life like a perfect mirror reflecting untarnished
the glory of God Himself. That a mere human being
could ever pray like this is difficult to believe. There
is a grandeur and a sublimity in this intercessory prayer
that is of the Infinite. It is of a humanity exalted to
the highest degree plus a divinity as potent as it is
difficult of definition.

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 47

I PRAY NOT THAT THOU SHOULDEST TAKE THEM
OUT OF THE WORLD, BUT THAT THOU SHOULDEST KEEP

them from evil." Jesus prays now for His dis-
ciples. They had been with Him for nearly three
years; they had continued with Him through His
temptations; they were His pupils, His friends, His
companions ; or, to use a pastoral word that Jesus loved,
His "sheep." During the years He was with them
He had been their shepherd, and now that He must
leave them the flock will be scattered. Therefore He
commends them to the Father tenderly and compas-
sionately ; but He does not ask that they be taken from
the world ; He prays that they may be saved from evil.
Some have eloquently advocated the separation of
Christians from the world in order to be safe from its
seductions. Thus, the members of certain religious or-
ders withdraw from the world, take the vow of perpet-
ual silence and become as living dead men. But such a
manner of life does not bring immunity from tempta-
tion; one has to struggle and battle with himself even
on a desert isle or in a hermit's cave. Moreover, such
a way of life is not without its selfish side. What is
the meaning of the New Testament terms "Salt of the
earth," "Light of the world," and "leaven" unless they
teach a witnessing for Christ where there be men and
women to know, to see, to hear ? The disciples were in
the world of sin, suffering, and death, but not of the
world that perishes, the world of mere sight and sound
and touch. Jesus accomplished His ministry among
the people, with the people and for the people. He

48 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

"went about doing good." He visited the people in
their homes; mingled with them on the street; sailed
with them on Galilee ; met with them in the synagogue ;
and during the first part of His ministry the multitude
thronged Him on every side. Wherever Jesus went
He brought with Him such a sense of God's presence
that men, women and children were never the same
again. For such a way of life of the part of His
disciples He now prays. He does not pray that John,
Peter, James, or any of His disciples be taken out of
the midst of the teeming life of the world in order that
they may be removed from evil. He prays that they
remain in the world and be kept from evil. And that
is His prayer for you and for me, fellow-disciple of the
Lord. We are not to flee from the crowd, nor avoid
contact with people ; we are to mingle freely with them ;
our lot is cast with them ; we be brethren and neighbors,
children of one Father, all.

Mingling thus with our fellows daily and amidst
error, we are to witness for the truth ; amidst the fleet-
ing and falling things witness for "the things that
cannot be shaken" ; in a generation which regards sin
lightly, witness for Him Whom the sins of others put
to death. Jesus was holy, but God be praised, His holi-
ness did not restrain Him from touching the hand of
the leper, from declining an invitation to the homes
of the publicans and sinners, or from embarrassing
Him in His conversation with the woman at the well
of Jacob. He was in the world of suffering, sorrow,
joy, gladness, but not of the sinful world of sight and
sound and appetite. And this is the great ideal He has
left for His disciples. To love mankind and be willing

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 40

to serve the least and lowliest; to be very much and
often in the darkest and foulest places of earth, and
there bear a flaming torch and bring a spirit of purity,
is to be Christian where the need is the deepest and re-
demption the most Christlike. If sin cannot be segre-
gated, neither can holiness be isolated.

"AND FOR THEIR SAKES I SANCTIFY MYSELF THAT
THEY ALSO MIGHT BE SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE

truth." Jesus is still praying for His disciples and
He continues to pray earnestly, wonderfully. He says,
"I consecrate," — for that is what the word sanctify
means, and is so placed in the margin of the Revised
Version. "I consecrate myself for their sake that they
also might be consecrated to the truth." This is ex-
alted doctrine; this is supreme service; this is sacri-
fice of self-sublime. He lays Himself upon the altar,
so to speak, but not to be consumed merely to be con-
sumed. A basic principle of Christ's teaching and life
is not to value any act, however good and noble, for the
act's sake, but for the sake of others. Torture for
suffering's sake differs little from pleasure for pleas-
ure's sake. Self-surrender is at the heart of conversion
and is fundamental in the Christian life. "Christ
pleased not Himself," we read ; and did He not say of
Himself, "I do always the things that are pleasing to
God." He surrendered His will to the will of God for
the sake of all God's children. When He hung upon
the cross and His enemies tauntingly cried, "He saved
others, Himself He cannot save," they spoke more
truthfully than they knew. He could not save Himself

50 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

and others too. It is easy to talk about self-denial ; it
is another and a harder thing to practice it as a rule
of life. It is comparatively easy to deny oneself certain
things on certain days or seasons of the year, but to
deny oneself and surrender one's will to God, — that is
a far more fundamental and significant act. This idea
of "others," is all through the life and ministry of our
Lord. It is in the mystery of the atonement; it is
woven throughout the warp and woof of the ordinances,
baptism and communion of our Lord's Supper, but
it has not yet won the hearts of the multitude who pro-
fess Christianity. The thought of society today is not
of "others" but of self, self, self. In every phase of
life self obtrudes. Self dies hard when it dies at all.
Self has a way of blinding and deluding us. Self-
interests protest against absolute surrender to God's
will; self chides us and whispers, "fanatic," "fool,"
"pietist"; self seeks to stifle us and smother into silence
our attempt to say, "Thy will be done."

Consecration is a word often on our lips but seldom
observable in our lives in fullness and power. So-
ciety knows the meaning of the word in part and
within circles or groups, but not largely or richly. In-
dividuals have taught us what consecration is, especially
mothers who freely give their all for son or daughter.
Here and there a great soul marches straight to Calvary
for the sake of a mighty cause, but consecration for
others in the large, in business, national and inter-
national relations, has not yet captured the hearts of the
world. Even at this late day a prominent captain of
industry scoffs at the idea of the golden rule in busi-
ness, or the teaching of the "Sermon on the Mount"

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 51

in politics. On the other hand there is a dynamic
minority of wide influence who stand ready to bear
witness to the law of "others" in every realm of so-
ciety, willing to pay the fullest price, ready "to kiss
the Cross."

IV

"that they all M4Y be one as thou, father,

ART IN ME AND I IN THEE : THAT THEY MAY BE ONE IN

us." Jesus is now praying for all the disciples that*
are yet to be ; for the Church and its vast membership ;
praying for the unity of all His followers in the closest
possible spiritual unity, even as Christ is in the Father
and the Father in Christ. To read these words and
then to peruse church history, or merely to look about *
us and behold the divided state of Christendom, is to
experience the emotion of indignation, if not of despair.
In America alone the Church is represented by one
hundred and fifty denominations. The spectacle of
controversies and bickerings and sectarian bigotry is
mean and ugly when compared with the spirit of this
intercessory prayer of our Lord. Let it be granted
that this prayer is for spiritual unity; it is that, of
course, but a spiritual unity should result in a visible* -
unity, beautiful to behold, glorious to experience. It
cannot mean uniformity of method; it does mean a
unity of spiritual power and of faith and of fellowship
that will reveal to the world a united and indivisible
Church, powerful and triumphant. When the disciples
of our Lord are united in Him even as "He and the
Father are one," the world will not longer doubt the
Divine mission of Jesus. The trouble is that thousands

52 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

are united to human creeds, fettered t* antiquated the-
ologies; are glorifying human leaders; enslaved to
human traditions; and so yield an anaemic will and a
divided heart to Christ. As long as we continue to
glory in men, and delight to set one man over against
another, glorying in one and anathematizing the other,
divisions will continue. My brethren, is not the diffi-
culty our meager spirituality ? We have everything ex-
cept the power, for the power comes of the spirit. "If
any man hath not the spirit of Christ he is none of
His." The beginning of such a unity as Christ prayed t
for is the union of the individual disciple with his Lord.
This is not a doctrine; it is an experience. It is not
something believed; it is something felt and known and
demonstrated.

Christian Unity, if it ever flower, must have its root-
age in the life of the spirit, in the sweet soil of the
soul. As the disciples tarried at Jerusalem for Pente-
cost they experienced a unity that was potent for every
good thing. It should be remembered that they were*
united because they were prayerful. Their unity was
the result of their prayers, not their prayer fulness of
their unity. Uniformity may be realized without
prayer, but never unity — which is a spiritual experience,
not a form or method.

At the close of this prayer Jesus uses a pregnant
phrase; namely, "I in them." St. Paul employs a simi-
lar phrase when he writes : "Christ in us the hope of
glory." And still again, "I have been crucified with
Christ; no longer do I live; but Christ lives in me."
One of the foremost educators in England had a son
who was slow-witted. His mind was strangely dulled

THE CHAPTER OF CHAPTERS 53

because of some jdisease of babyhood. The ordinary
teachers failed with the boy; they could get nowhere
with him. Then the father took charge — that great
soul, whose mind was one of the best trained in all
Europe, whose personality was rich and wholesome
throughout. That strapping six- footed father some-
how let himself right down into the inner life of that
little slow-witted son. Very slowly, but steadily and
wonderfully the mind of the boy began to expand. The
father companied with him day after day. Slowly but
surely the mind of the lad began to show extraordinary
development. He commenced to lead his classes; he
finished the lower schools with honor; lo! he went to
Oxford and carried off the prize. The secret of his
success was that his father became part of the very life
of his son ; that in a strange, yet very practical, fashion,
that father was himself and his son at the same time.
If an earthly father can be himself and in his son at
the same time, if an earthly father can be in his son
in so wonderful a way, how much more can God be
in His children with transforming power.

It is with this thought "I in them" that Jesus con-
cludes this memorable prayer, and this fact of Christ
in us is the open and puissant secret of Christian power
and victory.

IV

THREE TIMES A DAY
A Plea for Fixed Seasons of Private Devotions

Daniel 6:10.

And when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed, he went into his house (now his win-
dows were open in his chamber toward Jeru-
salem) ; and he kneeled upon his knees three
times a day, and prayed, and gave tbanks be-
fore his God, as he did aforetime.

IV

THREE TIMES A BAY

The scene is Babylon, famed for her pomp, her
wealth and prodigality. Babylon was a pagan city
where pleasure ran riot and iniquity flourished. Liv-
ing in Babylon and prominent there, but not of Baby-
lon's worldly life, was a prophet of the most High God.
Though of alien race and religion, this man, by sheer
force of his ability, had been elevated to the high of-
fice of Prime Minister. Naturally, Daniel became the
target of a thousand jealousies and intrigues. His »
enemies sought to discover some weakness in his life,
some failure in probity wherein they might accuse him
to the king. They sought diligently and found noth-
ing. They concluded then that the only way in which
this faithful servant of the king could be embarrassed
and put out of office would be through interference with
his religion. His enemies therefore cunningly devised
a law and secured its approval by the king that whoever
offered a petition to any God save King Darius would I
be thrown into a den of lions. Such a law once passed
in Babylon could not be repealed or modified; it was
unalterable and had to be enforced.

When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, it
did not affect his way of life in the smallest particular.!
He went into his house and his windows being open
57

58 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his
knees three times a day, and prayed and gave thanks
unto his God as he did before. Is it not a superb
courage that leads a man to such a decision in the face
of death itself? Is not a religion that will bear trans-
planting under such conditions a tremendous factor in
personal life and in society? But it is not my purpose
to make the character of Daniel nor his fidelity to his
faith amidst any and all circumstances my theme this
morning, though these are inviting subjects and much
needed by our times. Instead I want to turn to Daniel's
habits of stated prayer as the inspiration for a sermon
on the need and power of fixed seasons of private prayer
in daily life.

Three times a day in his own home and on his knees,
with his windows open toward Jerusalem, Daniel
prayed. Three times a day ! The Holy Scriptures are
full of precepts and examples of prayer at certain
periods of the day. In one of the Psalms we read:
"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord:
in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and
look up." In another: "Mine eyes prevent the night
watches that I might meditate in Thy word." In still
another : "I remember thee upon my bed and meditate
upon Thee in the night watches." And again : "Even-
ing, noon, and morning will I pray, and cry aloud ; and
He shall hear my voice." Evening, noon, and morning
for prayer to the Heavenly Father — three times a day !
Let us follow the order according to the Psalmist and
begin with the —

THREE TIMES A DAY 59

EVENING

Most people who pray at all pray in the evening or
at night. The need of God's protection and the pres-
ence of His brooding spirit is more apparent in dark-
ness than in light. When the twilight deepens and the
night enshrouds land and sea, doubts and fears hold
carnival. In a "Sonnet To Night," pronounced by
Coleridge the finest in the English language, Joseph
Blanco White uses the impressive phrase "Mysterious
Night" and then attempts to describe the emotions of
primitive man when for the first time he saw the night
envelop the earth. Yes, the night is full of mystery,
of hidden peril and unknown evil.

When one lies down to sleep he knows not but that
the sleep of life may become the sleep of death. Thus,
even in the prayer we teach the children is the phrase —

If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take.

Yes, by all means there should be prayer at evening,
after the day is done and the work ended. It is good
to come to the Father then just as we are, and ere we
seek rest in sleep to lay before Him the happenings
of the day — defeats, victories, griefs, disappointments,
joys, hopes, yearnings, all — and He who knoweth our
frame will understand. Yes, prayer at evening for
forgiveness, for cleansing of mind and heart, for rest
in sleep — that gift of God which knits up the raveled
sleeve of care, restores worn tissues, and revives droop-
ing spirits.

Prayer at evening becomes us all. It affords a
unique opportunity to think God's thoughts after Him.

60 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Dr. Horace Bushnell confessed that he fell asleep
every night while talking with God. Thus, too, a great
German theologian and scholar was accustomed before
going to bed to bow his head like a little child and say
— "Thank God it is the same with us as it was before.
Nothing has come between us ; Thou art my Father and
I am Thy child." In like manner an aged woman,
long a sturdy Believer and trustful Disciple of the
Lord, repeated as she lay in bed, over and over again,
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is in me;
bless His holy name." Thus quoting from the one
hundred and third Psalm she would fall asleep, her
room fragrant with the peace of God. The building
of character does not cease with our waking hours.
The mind is not entirely inactive, the thoughts that
linger in the brain as sleep comes on are potent surely.
Well it is for us to sink into slumber with the thought
that the Great Shepherd is watching over us — that
Shepherd of our souls who neither slumbers nor sleeps.
The insomnia of God is a blessed truth, and the thought
of it may help bring blessed peace to wearied eyes, rest
to worn and shattered nerves, sleep to a distraught and
uneasy mind.

NOON

The Psalmist affirmed that he would pray at the
noon hour, and for most of us that is an unusual
prayer season. It is a time when the vigor and light
of the sun is at its zenith. The whole world seems
throbbingly alive at noon-day, and yet it is a period
of pause and a time of refreshment and relaxation. In
the country the dinner bell summons the farmer from

THREE TIMES A DAY 61

the field and there is a brief span of rest for man and
beast. In the great cities, shops, factory and office
buildings pour forth their flood of human-kind at the
noon hour. The cafes^ the restaurants, the hotels are
rilled with people eating and drinking ; the children are
home from school; it is a time of sociability and a
period of release from the exactions of duties and
responsibilities.

Few people pray at noontide. There seems to be less
need of it than at any other time. If the sun be shin-
ing, his rays are never so garish as at the noon hour.
The world is bathed in sunshine and light. Perhaps
we feel freer from need of Divine help and more ready
to abandon ourselves to relaxation at the noon hour
than at any other period of the day. But one needs
God and a realization of His presence then as well as
at other times. "We stumble at noon-day as in the
twilight,' ' acknowledged Isaiah. A few moments of
private devotion at noon, the bowing of the head while
sitting at the desk or standing at an open window, look-
ing out over the roofs of nearby buildings, or if it be
in the country, gazing upon the quiet field, the wood-
lands or the mountains. In such a manner may one en-
joy the privilege of prayer at noontide.

It has been suggested that noon is the best of all
times to pray for the world, and in this connection it
has been said that when it is noon in Britain the largest
portion of the earth is in light; that when it is twelve
o'clock in London it is eight o'clock in the evening in
China, and it is four o'clock in the morning on the
Pacific Coast of America. Precisely what o'clock it
may be elsewhere when it is midday here, I do not know,

62 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

save that it surely is midnight somewhere for millions
of God's children. How fitting a period to pray for
the peoples of all Nations, and particularly the mis-
sionaries in China, in Japan, in Tibet, in India, in the
Philippines, in the Islands of the Sea, at noon. How
blessed to remember the missionaries of the Cross —
men, women and little children — at the noon hour. At
high noon the hands on the clocks point straight up-
ward. Time, too, to look up and pray to the Father
of us all.

MORNING

Prayer at the beginning of the day is peculiarly fit-
ting. Alas! of the great host of people who pray in
the evening, but few keep the morning watch. We
feel the need of prayer at night, and pray accordingly,
but in the morning, with light streaming all about us,
the need seems not so great. Alas, millions begin the
day prayerlessly. Now of all hours of day or night
the morning provides the most radiant of seasons for
communion with God. If there be mystery in the dark-
ness of the night, there is poetry in the glow and glory
of the morning. In the early hours of the day the
world seems fresh from the Creator's hands — the silent
ministry of the dew is moist on grass and flower and
tree. A sunrise is never commonplace. In spring-
time or early fall, or oh a clear day in winter, the
rising of the sun is a spectacle of wonder and beauty.
Lo! the first faint flushes of the eastern sky, the clear
notes of bird songs, soft breezes stirring in the branches
of the trees, and then the sun lifts himself above the
horizon like a great globe of fire, and earth and sky

THREE TIMES A DAY 63

are flooded with a golden glow. Little wonder the
maiden in Browning's famous poem sings with ecstasy
of sheer delight just to be living —

The year's at the spring,
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven,
The hill-side's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing,
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in His heaven —
All's right with the world!

With the dawn of a new day comes the necessity
for a walk of faith. Who knows what a day may bring
forth? It may bring grief and sorrow, disappoint-
ment and defeat. It may offer gifts of victory and a
sense of elation. It may bring new friendships or pos-
sibilities that can mar or break old friendships! It
may be cloudless or stormy, wind-swept or tornado-
torn, we cannot know in advance. Therefore we need
to begin the day with prayer. The morning has been
the favorite prayer-period for most of the great saints
of God. Robert Murray McCheyne, one of Scotland's
most gifted preachers, says : "I ought to spend the best
hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and
most fruitful employment and is not to be thrust into
a corner. The morning hours of six to eight are the
most uninterrupted." Dr. Judson began each day
with a period of private devotions with the Father, and
gave it as his conviction that "Thou canst leisurely de-
vote two or three hours every day to secret prayer
and communion with God." David said : "Early will
I seek Thee." Christ arose before day and went into
a solitary place. David Brainerd, missionary to the

(64 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Indians, found no day satisfying that did not begin
with prayer to God. Martin Luther said : "If I fail
to spend two hours in prayer in the morning, the devil
gets the victory through the day." G. Campbell Mor-
gan is well-known in America. He is an expository
preacher par excellence. His books are numerous and
widely read. He preaches with power and with unction
always. What is the secret of his power ? It is this :
For more than a quarter of a century he has spent
two hours every morning in prayer and with no other
book within reach except the Holy Scriptures. Alex-
ander MacLaren who was one of England's greatest
of preachers, a strong soul, a prophet of the Almighty,
kept the quiet hour every morning from nine until
ten, and in the solitude of that silence some of his
greatest sermons had their birth. There used to be a
celebrated statesman in England who held the post
of cabinet minister through a time of stress and great
anxiety. This man, more than all the others, was
calm, unhurried, possessed, and resourceful. The
Prime Minister of that day applied to this cabinet
minister an unusual name. He called him "the central
calm." He called him this name because the states-
man's calmness made him the center of the cabinet
meeting. To him the others turned in anxious mo-
ments. What gave him calm and peace and power?
The statesman's wife made known the secret. She
explained that her husband never began a day, however
late he was obliged to be up, without a quiet hour with
God and the Holy Scriptures. Verily he had meat to
eat that his fellow cabinet officers knew not of.

A "central calm." Is not that what the world needs

THREE TIMES A DAY 65

in this feverish and chaotic generation? A central
calm at Washington, at London, at Tokio, at Paris —
yea, a central calm in every capital in the world. A
central calm in state, in church, in business, industry,
and above all else a central calm in every home; a
realization of the presence of Almighty God and a will-
ingness to receive the fullness of His power.

' 'Evening, noon, and morning," exclaimed the Psalm-
ist, "will I pray." Would that we too could say as
much. Our need, our greatest need in this hour, as in
all other hours, is prayer. The greatest thing a man
or woman can do is to pray. Why ? Because by pray-
ing we open up a channel for God's power; we throw
ourselves into spiritual gear, so to speak. God fills us
and uses us mightily. There must be habitual prayer
if there be spiritual health. How shall we be able to
meet the awful problems of our day; how can we live
and move and have our being midst "change and de-
cay" without this communion with God? We may
exist, but we cannot really live without it. Three times
a day ! Is this too often to go to God in personal and
private prayer? Not merely three formal periods in
which to pray mechanically or professionally, but fixed
seasons of the day for real prayer, quiet moments and
fruitful moments with our Lord. When we have
learned to keep these seasons inviolate, nothing can
possibly occur that will throw us off our guard, put us
to shame, or really defeat us. God will provide a way
when none is in sight; God will meet our weakness
with His own strength; God will atmosphere us with
poise and victory and make all things beautiful in His
time.

66 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

There is a little book much heralded these days — it
is entitled 'The Daily Dozen" and it is a manual of the
simplest kind of physical exercise. Walter Camp, the
famous athlete, is the author. It contains twelve ele-
mental bodily movements designed to develop muscles
little used and to build the body up, if regularly fol-
lowed. These exercises are not beneficial if done
merely occasionally or spasmodically, but when they are
daily used they impart to the body not only suppleness
and grace, but they also fortify it against the inroads
of disease. Tens of thousands of men and women the
country over are following faithfully the instructions
in the little book and thereby increasing their physical
vigor.

This is all very well. Bodily exercise profits a great
deal, and a well set-up and smooth-running physical
system is a sturdy aid in the battle of life. It is easy
to forget that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
But alas and alack ! — how few exercise the prayer fac-
ulty. How anaemic and impoverished and feeble is
the prayer life of the average church member. The
prayerlessness of the Church is the greatest tragedy of
this generation. It is deadening and defeatening. O !
for ten thousand times ten thousand who are willing
three times a day to pray with the windows of their
soul opened toward the God of Jesus Christ. Given
such seasons of spiritual refreshment and Almighty
God will bear His arm and shake the community for
righteousness, for justice, for newness of life, and the
consequent redemption of city, town and county.

Prayer at evening? — Yes! Prayer at noon? — Yes!
Prayer in the morning? — A thunderous YES!

A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO

Some Reflections on the Marvel of the Divine
Pursuit

Psalm 139:1-12.

O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and
known me. Thou knowest my downsitting
and mine uprising; thou understandest my
thought afar off.

Thou searchest out my path and my lying
down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but,
lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether.

Thou hast beset me behind and before, and
laid thine hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it
is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or
whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there;
if I make my bed in sheol, behold, Thou art
there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy
right hand shall hold me.

If I say, Surely the darkness shall over-
whelm me, and the light about me shall be
night :

Even the darkness hideth not from Thee,
but the night shineth as the day : the darkness
and the light are both alike to Thee.

A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO

In the opinion of many devout students of the Scrip-
tures, the one hundred and thirty-ninth is the noblest
utterance of all the Psalms. A great Scottish theo-
logian said, "This is the Psalm which I should wish
to have with me on my death-bed." Why should a
dying man prefer the one hundred and thirty-ninth
Psalm to the tenderer and more familiar portions of
the Psalter? This Psalm lacks the pastoral beauty of
the twenty-third; the brilliant didactic qualities of the
nineteenth; the mournful cadence of the ninetieth; the
plaintive tenderness of the one hundred and third; but
it is loftier and more majestic in thought than any one
of these or all four. The author is in an exalted mood ;
he senses God everywhere; he conceives of man as be-
set by God on every side and pursued by his all-pervad-
ing presence. Thus, upon reflection, it is seen that this
is a fitting passage of Scripture for one to read as he
faces some impending and unknown vicissitude or,
awaits "the great teacher — death." For the Psalmist
is sure not only that God is, but also that He is pur-
suing him persistently and not in anger but in love.

The exalted mood of the Psalmist in this 139th
composition is worthy of comment. He finds God
everywhere. He finds him at once and without difri-
69

70 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

culty. How different his mood from that of Job who,
in an experience of depression and doubt exclaimed, "O,
that I knew where I might find Him; that I might
even come to His seat." Human moods are variable
always ; like tides of the sea they rise and fall. Some-
times God seems nearby; so sure we are of His pres-
ence that we uncover and bow the head; again we
glimpse Him faintly as across some vast area or fail to
see Him at all.

Mark Twain has left an account of a camping experi-
ence in the Maine woods, when Horace Bushnell —
the distinguished Christian scholar — was a member of
the party. The humorist described the first night they
slept in God's great out-of-doors, and particularly the
prayer that Bushnell offered before they fell asleep. It
must have been a remarkable prayer for it made the
company of campers realize the presence of the Divine.
Mark Twain was deeply impressed, and commenting on
the incident years afterwards, said, "God seemed so
near that I fancied I could reach out anywhere that
night and touch Him." But when the famous author
was bereft of his devoted wife and a lovely daughter,
the darkness was thick about him and he sensed God
nowhere. Nor is there anything more pathetic than his
confessedly faint sense of the Divine presence as he
himself entered the valley of the shadow. The exalted
moods of life should be used to the fullest. They are
given us for a great purpose. By the mountain-top
experiences we should shape our lives and not by those
of the valley of doubt and gloom. Such elation of the
Spirit as is expressed in this Psalm is a tonic for the
soul ; and as cold water is to thirsty travelers, so these

A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 71

great affirmations of God's everywhereness soothe and
comfort the weary heart. But these are general com-
ments and it may be well to observe more particularly
the teachings of this notable Scripture and the lofty
conception of a God whose presence fills the world and
thrills the Psalmist's soul. It is interesting to look at
these verses one by one.

"O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me."
Could anything be more thorough-going ? God knows
us completely. "He knoweth our frame, He remem-
bereth we are dust." Not only so, but He knows us
because He has "searched" us. "Searched" is a strong '
word. It means to "dig deep." It has the idea of
minute investigation and of closest scrutiny. Here is
knowledge too wonderful for us. We think we know
each other, but we are mistaken. Intimate friends and
kinspeople know one another but partly. God knows
us altogether and wholly. The mind of the Psalmist
is flooded with this truth and he proceeds to expand
upon it in various ways.

"Thou knowest my downsittings and mine upris-
ings." These are interesting words. They are com-
parable with another phrase made familiar by much
Bible usage; namely, "Our going out and coming
in." It may be by the use of the terms "downsittings"
and "uprisings" the psalmist has reference to our
stumbling and falling, our blunders and failures, and
our consequent rising to begin all over again. God
knows our modes of life, whether of action or of re-
pose, our sleeping and our waking hours. Yea, what-
ever the day or the night may bring, our heavenly

72 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Father knows. The God of Israel neither slumbers
nor sleeps.

"Thou compassest or winnowest my path . . . and
art acquainted with all my ways." This is a stronger
statement yet. It implies a still closer and more accu-
rate knowledge on God's part. The Psalmist avers
that God "winnowest" the way that we go. That is
an eloquent term. As the old time farmer used to
winnow the grain, thus separating the chaff from the
wheat, so to the Psalmist's mind God sifts out or win-
nows our paths ; the way that we go is God encircled
if we only knew it. We may forget Him, He forgets
us never. He knoweth the way we take.

"For there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O
Lord, Thou knowest it altogether." The Psalmist
could not have phrased the knowledge of God more
strongly than this. Even before we frame the word
He has knowledge of the thought that lies back of the
speech. Verily we every one have need to pray —
"Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of
my heart find acceptance in Thy sight, O Lord, our
strength and our Redeemer."

"Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid
thine hand upon me." Ours is a besetting God. The
word "beset" has fallen into an unfavorable meaning.
We speak of "besetting sins" ; why not speak of a be-
setting God, a God who besets us before and behind
and lays His hand upon us. The idea is not that of a
heavy hand, but of a fatherly and compassionate pres-
sure. It is the hand of love and of mercy and of long
suffering. It is a precious thought; a beautiful figure;
a paternal picture.

A GOB WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 73

From these exalted thoughts of God's presence and
knowledge the Psalmist proceeds still further. He
maintains that it is impossible to escape the Divine
Spirit ; that no man can flee from the presence of God.
If he ascends into heaven or makes his bed in the
grave, lo, God is there. If he takes the wings of the
morning and flies to the uttermost parts of the earth,
God pursues him. Darkness and light are alike unto
Him. Everywhere and all the time he perceived God
pursues His children, and in manifold ways. Surely
this is a Psalm extraordinary. The spirit of God is
contemplated as boundless and represents man as at-
tempting to escape from God and failing The poets
have occasionally made this thought the theme of their
verses, and none more dramatically than Francis
Thompson in his strangely haunting poem entitled,
"The Hound of Heaven. " In verses once read that
can never be forgotten, the poet describes the Divine
presence pursuing him persistently, through every vicis-
situde, and undefeated by his efforts to elude Him at
last triumphantly possesses the pursued who acknowl-
edges Him as his all in all.

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years ;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears
From those strong feet that followed, followed after

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbed pace,

74 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat — and a voice beat

More instant than the feet —
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me"

...•••■

Halts by me that footfall:

Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest !
Thou dravest love from these, who dravest Me."

The unique quality of the one hundred and thirty-
ninth Psalm is that it exalts a conception of God not
common throughout the Old Testament. The devout
Israelite for the most part worshiped God as some
awful and distant Deity. He thought of Jehovah more
often as a Judge and King than a Father. He bowed
before a Magistrate and a Monarch. He conceived of
worship in particular localities and was given to rev-
erence for Holy places. He thought of Jehovah as
the God of the Jewish people only. Thus the idea of
God in many portions of the Old Testament is a cir-
cumscribed and narrow conception. In the one hun-
dred and thirty-ninth Psalm, however, the author per-
ceives the presence of God as filling the universe, and
more, he sees man striving to flee from Him, seeking to
hide from Him and all in vain. God is inevitable, un-
avoidable, unescapable. In all verity he is a God that
will not let us go.

This is a profound conception of Deity — this thought
of the Divine Spirit searching out the hearts of men
and filling all the universe and pursuing man ever and
always. But to some it may be, and frequently is,
vague, intangible and impersonal. There is an aloof-
ness about the idea and a mysticism in it that does not

A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 75

satisfy the hearts of all humanity. I think of the little
girl who had been put to bed and left alone in the dark
in a room upstairs. The other members of the family
were down stairs immediately under the child's bed-
room and were laughing and talking. By and by they
heard the child crying. The mother went to the room,
knelt by the bed, put her arms around the little girl
and asked her the trouble. "I was afraid of the dark,"
the little girl sobbed. "The dark won't hurt you, dear,
God is here," comforted the mother. Then the crying
broke out afresh and between sobs the little girl an-
swered: "Yes — I know — God's here — but — I — want
— someone — with — a — face." Pathetic words and yet
ever so natural. Yes, we want someone with a face,
with eyes to see and ears to hear, with voice to speak,
with ministering hands, with beating heart — for such
a companion and comforter does humanity still cry
and God has heard and answered that cry.

Long, long ago in an upper room in Jerusalem a.
very strong and radiant personality — a companion,
friend and teacher announced to the group who had
been with Him for nearly three years that He was
going away; that He was obliged to leave them. He
spoke to them of a home where there were many man-
sions; informed them that He was going to prepare
a place for them, and assured them that He would come
again. He also said that He was the way, the truth,
and the light, and that no man could come unto the
Father but by Him. The little company were sad and
filled with a nameless dread of approaching disaster.
One of that group named Philip asked the great com-
panion a question : "Lord, show us the Father and it
sufficeth us." Tell us about God, explain Him to us.

76 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

He seems so far away. We cannot see Him or hear
Him, or know Him, but we want to know Him. Show
us the Father and it will satisfy us, as nothing else
can satisfy us."

The world-cry of Philip was answered by Jesus, and
surpassingly great is the answer : "Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip ?
He that has seen Me has seen the Father." Yes, this is
the answer : "God having spoken at sundry times and
divers manners hath in these latter days spoken unto
us by His Son." It is well to range the one hundred
and thirty-ninth Psalm alongside the fourteenth chap-
ter of John. The Psalmist in a measure anticipates the
revelation of God in Christ. The mystery of the In-
carnation is the mystery of God seeking His children,
pursuing them constantly and persistently with His
everlasting love. Behold the heavenly Father seeking
His children in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.
This exalted teaching of the Psalmist is illustrated and
amplified in a most countless way in the teaching of the
Christ. Jesus taught that the very hairs of our heads
are numbered; that not a sparrow falls without God's
knowledge. Such teaching is akin to that of this Psalm,
only fuller and more intimate.

His parables of the shepherd seeking his sheep; the
woman searching for the coin; of forgiving one's ene-
mies seventy times seven ; of going the second mile, —
all these figures, incidents, ideals, are but outcroppings
of this idea of God as seeking, pursuing, following His
creatures, never abandoning them, but always and ever,
in the pursuit Divine.

A GOD WHO WILL NOT LET US GO 77

Jesus Himself was the incarnation of the Divine
Pursuer. He was the "sent one." He explained His
nission as a coming to seek and to save the lost. The
church — His body — is a medium of the spirit seeking
:o win men for the new life as heirs of Jesus Christ,
md members of the family of God. Perhaps the lof-
iest explanation given by any New Testament writer
}f the purpose of God in Jesus is that of Paul when he
jays, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself."

In the light of this Psalm and the trend of Biblical
:eaching, much in our theology needs revision. We
:alk and pray and sing as though God were reluctant
:o bless us; as if He were so busily engaged else-
where in His boundless universe as to necessitate our
mtreaty and supplication to make Him aware of our
leed and distress. We forget, if, indeed, it has oc-
curred to us, that we are the objects of His pursuit,
His love, His wisdom, His knowledge. We are seek-
ng to illude Him, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes
villfully. What means this restlessness, this wistful
reaming of the multitude for pleasure, for recreation,
ior change ? What is the reason for this mad scramble
tor possession, position and fame? Is it not because
*reat hosts of men and women are seeking to escape
\lmighty God; fearing to surrender to the Divine
Will lest some darling sin must be abandoned; skepti-
cal that spiritual riches are comparable with material
vealth? O ! the wonder of the God who will not let us
£0, the God who was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself. We forget Him; we abandon ourselves to a
vay of life that is Godless, but He never forgets, never

78 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

abandons, never ceases to pursue us. And God pur-
sues us in ways that are diverse and totally unlike. He
speaks to us by the still small voice of conscience, and
if we refuse to listen he speaks to us in the thunder of
some event in our lives that shakes us to thef oundation.
The Divine Spirit reaches us sometimes through the
counsel and faith of the aged and the afflicted; some-
times by the hand of a little child ; sometimes the Spirit
pursues us by the medium of a dear friend or of a
beloved kinsman; possibly through the ministry of an
entire stranger. Yes, God seeks us and follows after
us, using a hundred different tokens; sometimes He
uses the seasons, the loveliness of spring, the mellow
splendor of summer, the glory of mid-autumn, the
wonder of wintertime, the stars by night and the
radiant sun by day; through roses, hollyhocks and
lilies; through books, pictures, music — through and by
all these agencies, and still on and on that love that
will not let us go follows us, refuses to be baffled,
claims us unceasingly.

When we think of God in this light, which is the
light all aglow on the mountain peaks of Old Testa-
ment teaching, and the great Light in Jesus Christ, we
are humbled and made to tremble, not with fear but
with the deepest joy. For this is the greatest love of
earth and heaven — the Love that will not, can not, let
us go.

That Voice is round me like a bursting sea :

And is thy earth so marred,

Shattered in shard on shard?

Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me.

Rise, clasp my hand, and come !

VI

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH

How God Schools His Prophets and Provides for
Their Successors

i7 Kings 2:13-14-15.

And he took up also the mantle of Elijah
that fell from him, and went back, and stood
by the bank of the Jordan. And he took the
mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote
the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the
God of Elijah? And when he also had smit-
ten the waters, they were divided hither and
thither ; and Elisha went over. And when the
sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over
against him saw him, they said, the spirit of
Elijah doth rest on Elisha.

VI

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH

The second chapter of II Kings is pervaded with
what Sir Robertson Nicoll calls "The sweet and awful
sadness of the valley of the shadow." Elijah, the re-
nowned Prophet of Israel, was nearing the end of his
life. Elisha, a younger man, and his disciple, was
aware that the time of separation was at hand. As
the hour approached for his home going, Elijah made
no secret of his preference to be left alone. He first
suggested to Elisha that he tarry at Gilgal, then at
Bethel, and again at Jericho. But in each instance
his companion declared — "As the Lord liveth and as
thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." At Jericho a
company of young men known as "The sons of the pro-
phets," anxiously awaited the coming of Elijah, for
they too knew a crisis was impending. They would
have liked to accompany him, but the privilege granted
to Elisha was not theirs. Fifty of their number fol-
lowed the two prophets as far as they might and then
sorrowfully stood and watched them until they were
lost from view.

Master and pupil crossed the Jordan as by dry land,

and when they had passed over, Elijah said to his

companion, "Ask what I shall do for thee before I am

taken from thee." That was a great question, and

81

82 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

right greatly the younger man answered, "I pray thee
let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me." There
was humility in that request. Elisha, fronting so great
a crisis, felt himself unequal to continue the work of
Elijah, except he possessed a double equipment of his
spiritual power. The old prophet replied, "Thou hast
asked a hard thing; nevertheless, if thou see me when
I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee.,, And
lo ! while the two men were conversing, there appeared
a chariot of fire and horses of fire, which parted them
asunder, and Elijah was taken up into heaven by a
whirlwind.

Beholding the spectacle, and deeply impressed there-
by, Elisha cried, "My father, my father, the chariots
of Israel and the horsemen thereof.'' A strange and
interesting exclamation is this by which it may be
supposed that Elisha believed Elijah to be as great a
defense to the Israelitish Nation as an army ready
for battle, and such he was.

How long Elisha stood gazing into the sky attempt-
ing to catch a further glimpse of his great companion
and teacher, we do not know. The Scripture solemnly
says, "He saw him no more." Alas ! the hour cometh
to us all, when those upon whom we lean, our teach-
ers and our mainstays, must be taken, leaving us to
get our bearings as best we can, and carry on the un-
finished task. Elisha, after a custom of his day, and
in token of his grief, rent his garment into two pieces.
Then observing the mantle of Elijah lying on the
ground nearby, he took it up, and lo, when he smote
the water of the Jordan with the mantle of Jehovah,

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 83

they divided hither and thither, even as they had done
for Elijah.

god's law of succession is demonstrated in
this dramatic old testament incident

God calls one worker from his post of duty only
to summon another to take his place. "The King is
dead; long live the King," is more than an ancient
custom, it is a token of the divine law of succession.
When a particularly useful person dies or is called from
one field of activity to another, we are filled with a great
fear lest the work not only suffer but cease altogether.
We forget that no individual is wholly indispensable
and that however able he was, the day will dawn when
he must give place to another. The world goes for-
ward after the fashion of a gigantic relay race.
"Others have labored and ye have entered into their
labors/' is a truth which admits of wide application.

,rTis weary watching day by day,
And yet the tide heaves onward;
We build like corals grave on grave
But pave a path that's sunward.

This process is not only inevitable, it is also wise
and beneficent. Emerson's noble words in his "Com-
pensation" are to the point.

"We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let
our angels go. We do not see that they only go out
that archangels may come in. We are idolaters of the
old. We do not believe in the riches of the soul, in its
proper eternity and omnipresence. We do not believe
there is any force in today to rival or recreate that

84 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

beautiful yesterday. We linger in the ruins of the
old tent, where once we had bread and shelter and
organs, nor believe that the spirit can feed, cover, and
nerve us again. We cannot again find aught so dear,
so sweet, so graceful. But we sit and weep in vain.
The voice of the Almighty saith, 'Up and onward
for evermore!' We cannot stay amid the ruins.
Neither will we rely on the new; and so we walk ever
with reverted eyes, like those monsters who look back-
wards."

The infinite variety of personality gives color and
substance to history; supplies vine and rock to society.
One Grand Canyon is enough for a Continent; one
Elijah for a generation ; one Jesus Christ for all times.
But thousands of ravines and valleys compose the
earth ; millions of ruggedly honest men supply the salt
of society, and a host who possess the Lord Christ's
heart furnish light for the world.

That God has ready always a great leader when
the fullness of time has come, is a familiar saying and
true. Stephen, the young Christian martyr ,t was cut
off in his glorious prime, but there stood by witnessing
his death, and profoundly influenced by it, a Saul of
Tarsus who would take the wondrous story to the
uttermost parts of the earth. Dr. Livingstone died
in the heart of Africa; died on his knees in prayer,
prematurely old and broken, his labors apparently
ended, but when the story of his heroic career was
given to the world, thousands were moved to follow
in his steps. When Major McKinley, the gentle and
urbane, died by the hand of an assassin, and was suc-
ceeded by a man scarcely past middle life and of a

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 85

bold impetuous spirit, the Nation almost held its breath
for apprehension. And lo ! Colonel Roosevelt brought
to the presidency the very qualities that were most
needed for that hour, and once again the law of suc-
cession was justified by its work.

It is a common heresy that we speak and act as
though God was once active in the affairs of men, but
had withdrawn His spirit from the world, leaving us
to blunder along as best we can, dependent solely upon
human ingenuity and wisdom. That was a wise word
spoken by Garfield from the balcony of a New York
hotel to the vast throng that filled the street, and
seemed utterly dazed by the news of Lincoln's death.
Quoting first from the ninety-seventh Psalm, that man
of sturdy faith said : "God reigns and the Government
at Washington still lives.', The people were in danger
of forgetting that the God of Lincoln was still active
and sovereign over all. The history of religious con-
troversy centers around human leadership and the spirit
of partyism. In the Corinthian Church partyism had
its birth, through the glorying in men, rather than in
God* The apostle rebuked the tendency sharply.
"Wherefore let no one glory in men/' he said, "For
all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or
Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present
or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's,
and Christ is God's." How different the history of
Christianity would be written if this advice had always
been followed. God has not exhausted Himself in
His revelation of truth to any man, or to all men.
Give each teacher his just dues, but do not set Elisha
over against Elijah; Mary against Martha; Peter

86 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

against Paul; Calvin against Wesley; General Booth
against Bishop Brooks. Accept every teacher for what
truth he has to offer and know that God will raise up
other teachers and thereby cause increasing light to
flood the great issues of life and death.

god's method of succession is seen in this old
testament episode

God uses prepared men to continue the work laid
down by their predecessors. Elijah's mantle did not
accidentally fall upon Elisha. The younger man had
been schooled under the older, and was the beneficiary
of his companionship and counsel. Elijah called
Elisha from the field where the young man was plow-
ing. He cast his mantle upon him at that time as a
symbol of his succession, and the young plowman from
that day became Elijah's companion. It was after this
calling of Elisha that some of the deepest experiences
of Elijah's career took place. The wrong done Naboth
by King Ahab, and the prophet's fiery denunciation of
the King occurred after his choice of Elisha. During
those full and eventful days we have no record of
Elisha, but we rightfully assume that for much of the
time he was with the great prophet and learning of him.
In one place the Scriptures refer to Elisha as "The son
of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah."
Yes, he was a servant of Elijah, but more than a serv-
ant. Gehazi was a servant of Elisha, but never more
than a servant. Propinquity to a great man cannot of
itself make a prophet, but given the essential quality
of mind and affections, and propinquity may be fruitful
exceedingly.

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 87

It is important that we observe the human factor in
the Divine law of succession, and the responsibility
thereof. One way that God raises up successors to
great leaders is through the training of successors by
the leaders themselves. Moses had his Joshua; Elijah
his Elisha;, Jesus His twelve apostles; St. Paul his
Timothy; D. L. Moody his Henry Drummond; Fran-
cis E. Clark his Daniel Poling. Who have we in
training to receive the standard from our trembling
hands and carry it on in a steadier grasp? Here is a
responsibility we are slow to acknowledge in matters
spiritual. In business this responsibility is widely rec-
ognized and freely accepted. Most fathers recognize
it and are not unfaithful to their duty. They look for-
ward to the day when their sons shall succeed them in
business or profession, and to prepare them, for this is
a thing of pride and joy. Most mothers are ambitious
thatj their daughters shall succeed them in social and
domestic life, and spare no pains to train them to be-
come ideal hostesses. It is scarcely necessary to ad-
vise parents to train their children for society and busi-
ness; they will see to that. But, alas! how few are
concerned with preparing the oncoming generation for
Spiritual service. And yet there can be no adequately
trained Elishas except there be Elijahs willing to choose
and discipline their disciples.

The greatest popular pastime in America is baseball.
Prodigious sums of money are represented in this
amusement which annually draws a patronage running
into many millions. In order that worthy successors
may be found for the famous players who command
fabulous sums for their services, a nation-wide search

88 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

is carried on annually under carefully trained scouts.
No village is considered too small, or community too
remote for these men to visit, if there is possible ma-
terial for a great catcher, pitcher, fielder or baseman.

What of the Church and succession in its leaderships
for the ministry, the mission field, the Christian col-
lege, the local congregation? The solemn truth is that
the paucity of available material is pathetic and wholly
alarming. The average nowadays Christian home is
not only indifferent ta this need but sometimes even
hostile to son or daughter preparing for such a career.
Time was when the fondest hope of a God-fearing
parent was to give a son to the ministry of the Word.
The present generation, however, is receiving small
encouragement toward any definite religious life. The
prophet in religion has given way to the promoter, and
the lure of the material has blinded the eyes of young
and old to spiritual gifts.

Men and women who love the Church of the living
God — whom have you in training to receive your
mantle ? Honored parents of Christian ideals — are you
raising up sons and daughters who can be counted upon
to serve and sacrifice for the Kingdom of Heaven?
Teachers, and workers in the Sunday school, — have you
inspired among your pupils those who will continue
your labors when you are called higher ? Office bearers,
— are you consciously and constructively shaping the
lives of the young people to follow your footsteps, to
assume responsibility, and accept posts of duty? Min-
ister of the Word, — do you know definitely that among
the young men and women of your congregation there
are those who are preparing for service in home or for-

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 89

eign field as ambassadors of Jesus Christ? Upon the
kind of an answer present-day leaders make to these
questions impend issues of immeasurable worth. The
mantle of Elijah awaits an Elisha, Elijah-trained.

god's law of succession is a distinct challenge
to the individual

Elijah's mantle did not fall directly on the shoulders
of Elisha, it fluttered to the ground a little distance
apart. It was necessary for him to take the mantle
up, by that token he showed the mettle of his manhood.
The mantle of leadership does not drop mysteriously
from the sky and gracefully entwine itself about the
shoulders of the chosen one. Men who scheme to step
into other men's shoes are doomed to wear their own,
however bad their state of repair. Leaders are usually
called to new opportunities of leadership when they
are so busily preoccupied with their work that they have
no time to be casting covetous glances toward some
other position. Elijah chose Elisha, that is half the
successorship ; Elisha served a faithful apprenticeship,
and when his master's mantle fell to earth he took it
up — that is the other half.

Society* has yet to know a surplus of real leaders,
trained workers are always at a premium. It may not
be always true that the world will beat a path through
the woods to the home of the man who writes a better
book, makes a better mouse trap, or preaches a better
sermon than his neighbor, but ninety-eight times out
of a hundred it is true. Mediocrity needs to be safe-
guarded against discouragement, but the time will
never be when perseverance and diligence do not com-

90 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

mand a reward. However far society may go in mass-
movements, and it will likely go a long way, individual
initiative cannot be impaired without serious loss and
possible disaster.

To wear the mantle of Elijah is not to be a mere
imitator. Elisha was most unlike Elijah. The older
prophet loved the wilderness and solitary places, the
younger, the city and the camps of Israel's armies. The
Tishbite was stern and of fiery intensity; the son of
Shaphat was milder, gentler, yet withal firm and un-
compromising with evil. Imitators there are of every
great leader, men who simulate voice, gesture, and
even foibles, but the true successor possesses the spirit
and preserves his own individuality.

If we wish the mantle of Elijah we shall have to
make ourselves worthy of it. In order to do as much
as our fathers we shall have to do more. To be as good
as our fathers we shall have to be better. We stand
upon their shoulders, we are the beneficiaries of their
labor and love. We may not be able to match their
strong intellects or their rugged characters inured by
hardship and exposure, but we ought to be able to sur-
pass them in the use of the wider knowledge and the
accumulated heritage that is ours. Our temptation is
to tarry at the place where they laid down the burden.
Our tendency is to camp around the spot and to estab-
lish the banner where they battled. But we cannot be
true to their memory unless we go forward and plant
that banner on higher ground.

Elijah's mantle was the symbol of the choice of
Elisha to continue the prophet's ministry. In the upper
room in Jerusalem Jesus breathed upon His disciples,

THE MANTLE OF ELIJAH 91

symbolic of His Spirit that was soon to come upon
them. He was parted from that chosen group while in
the very act of blessing them. In that parting He con-
ferred upon them no insignia of authority that the
eye could see. There fell from Him no visible mantle,
but they possessed His promise and that was enough
until fulfillment came. The disciples tarried in prayer
and expectancy, and upon them thus gathered, His
Spirit came in fullness and power. Jesus was not an
exception to God's law of succession; He left no suc-
cessor, but He left many successors. "In going," says
Bishop Brent, "Christ came in a fullness which was
wanting before He went, the fullness of added availa-
bility, a higher degree of presence."

Elisha prayed for a double portion of Elijah's spirit,
and thereby received his mantle. The mantle without
the spirit was a cast-off garment, a mere piece of cloth,
but as a symbol of the spirit it was an eloquent reminder
of the great prophet who wore it becomingly and with
power. Jesus, in granting His Spirit gave more than
the disciples had dared to ask, and thus He gives us
of Himself today — superabundantly — if we will but
receive Him.

So stir me Lord that I may
Give myself so back to Thee
That Thou mayest give
Thyself again through me.

VII

HABAKKUK'S HYMN

A Meditation on the Winged Words of an Old
Testament Saint

Habakkuk 3:17-19.

For though the fig tree shall not flourish,

Neither shall fruit be in the vines;

The labor of the olive shall fail,

And the fields shall yield no food;

The flock shall be cut off from the fold,

And there shall be no herd in the stalls :

Yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength;

And He maketh my feet like hinds' feet,

And will make me to walk upon my high places.

VII

HABAKKUK'S HYMN

This noble Scripture is a rich discovery in an unex-
pected place. For that matter, life is full of surprises.
How often we come unexpectedly upon new discoveries.
We take up a book more or less familiar; we think
we know it by heart ; and lo ! among its score of chap-
ters and thousands of words we find in some obscure
paragraph a passage of extraordinary worth. We set
out to journey over a familiar road; we think we know
its every landmark, and then, to our surprise, we come
suddenly upon a landscape of great beauty. We enjoy
the association of a dear friend, of such long standing
that we believe we know him thoroughly, only to dis-
cover some day as by a flash of lightning a new trait,
a surprising courage, or some talent we never dreamed
of his possessing. Thus it is with this Book of books;
we think we know it fairly well, only to discover some-
times in the most casual way, new riches, new beauties,
new wisdom.

Comparatively few readers of the Bible are familiar
with the book of Habakkuk. An exceeding great num-
ber would find it difficult to turn to it promptly. We
know nothing of Habakkuk save what may be inferred
from this book that bears his name. He probably
flourished in the reign of Jehoiakim, that evil King
95

96 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

who deliberately cut to pieces certain portions of the
Scriptures that were disagreeable to him. Habakkuk
is known as one of the minor prophets, yet here is an
utterance worthy of a Jeremiah, an Isaiah or an Ezekiel.
Thank God minor prophets may sometimes be majors
in the army of the Lord !

While it is true that Habakkuk is unknown to most
readers of the Scriptures, his brief but valuable book
has rewarded many diligent students of the Word.

Daniel Webster, in a conversation with some friends,
was asked his preference as to portions of the Bible.
In reply he said, "The masterpiece of the New Testa-
ment, of course, is the Sermon on the Mount. As to
the Old Testament writings, my favorite book is that
of Habakkuk; and my favorite verses in chapter three
— seventeen and eighteen : Tor though the fig tree shall
not flourish, neither shall fruit be in the vine ; the labor
of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no food;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall
be no herd in the stall; yet I will rejoice in Jehovah,
I will joy in the God of my salvation/ This," con-
tinued Webster, "I regard as one of the sublime pas-
sages of literature; and often have I wondered that
some artist equal to the task has not selected the
prophet and the scene of his desolation as the subject
of a painting. "

The fact that this unusually fine passage is in an
obscure book of the Bible suggests that other undis-
covered jewels are scattered throughout the Scriptures.
Every one who searches the Scriptures for worthy
goals may expect to be amply rewarded. One would
hesitate to say that we are too familiar with the four-

HABAKKUK'S HYMN 97

teenth of John, the twenty-third Psalm, the thirteenth
of First Corinthians, or the eighth of Romans; but it
is lamentably true that we are unfamiliar with many
portions of the Scriptures wrongly deemed unimportant
and commonplace.

i

These winged words of Habakkuk, in which he vows
that whether or not his fields prosper or his flocks in-
crease, he will rejoice in Jehovah, approach a defini-
tion of the nature of real religion. Religion is a diffi-
cult term to define, and many misleading definitions
have been written. In Acts, the seventeenth chapter,
Paul in his speech in Athens tells his hearers that they
are very religious, but the word literally means "super-
stitious" or "demon- fearing." In James, the first chap-
ter and twenty-seventh verse, "pure religion and unde-
nted before our God and Father" is described as "vis-
iting the fatherless and widows in their affliction and
keeping oneself unspotted from the world." This is
not a definition of religion, but a description of a prac-
tical expression of the same, and a good one, too. In
attempting to define religion, we usually fall into the
error of selecting an aspect of religion and defining
the whole by a part.

There is, for example, a ceremonial religion — a view
of God that expresses itself in punctilious observance
of form. The Pharisees stressed this kind of reli-
gion; they made the form an end instead of a means.
Forms have their places in religion and ceremonies
their uses. We may properly think of forms and cere-
monies as the A-B-C of religion. One should use them

98 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

as he uses the alphabet; that is, having learned the
alphabet, he passes on to the creation of sentences,
paragraphs, and the formation of a vocabulary. But
there are those who use form and ceremony as goals,
instead of vehicles to the goal.

There is also a propositional or creedal religion, an
intellectual assent to a truth or doctrine. Now, correct
thinking is good, yes, more, it is necessary, but it is
not of itself sufficient. The Scriptures tell us that
"even the demons believe and tremble.' ' Devils are al-
ways orthodox. The assent of the mind to a doctrine,
even a Christian doctrine, may or may not be really
religious. Intellectual acceptance of Christian doctrine
is the beginning of a saving faith in God through
Jesus Christ, but belief itself is not trust save as the
bud is the flower.

Still again, there is a devotional religion. A wor-
shipful service makes a direct appeal to the nature of
some persons whose lives are not really righteous, but
who are charmed by the* esthetic effect of prayer or
preaching, and the mystery and spiritual romance that
haloes the house of God. The devotional spirit enters
largely into real religion, but it is not the whole of
religion.

There is likewise a practical or humanitarian religion
which consists in deeds of mercy — a religion of min-
istry to body and mind ; a religion that stresses the idea
of burden bearing and succoring the unfortunate. It
may ignore or profess to ignore the institutional side
of religion and even repudiate the creedal and the
formal. Such a practical and necessary serving of
humanity is a large part of religion, but it is not all.

HABAKKUK'S HYMN 99

Habakkuk was not a stranger to ceremonial religion.
As a devout Jew the various rites of purification, the
numerous sacrifices and offerings, the tithing even of
the smallest herbs — all these were probably observed
by him. Undoubtedly he had given intellectual assent
to the truths that are embodied in the decalogue. We
may well believe that he found pleasure in the stately
temple service, the majestic order of worship, the an-
tiphonal choirs — that these found and fed the soul of
the prophet. We know that his religion was practical
and that it was social as well as individualistic. Was
it not this same brave soul who wrote, "Woe to him
that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set
his nest on high that he may be delivered from the
hand of evil ! Woe to him that buildeth a town with
blood and establish a city by iniquity."

ii

Habukkuk avers in this personal confession of faith
that his trust in God does not depend upon the success
of his crops, the vintage of his grapes, nor his jars of
olives, his flocks and his herds. He may lose a part or
all but that will make no difference to his devotion to
God. However distressing and hard his experience, he
means that his faith shall triumph. He exclaims ex-
ultantly : "I will joy in the God of my salvation." He
goes still further although it would seem that he has
gone as far as possible in his avowals of loyalty and
trust. He makes use in the closing verse of one of the
most beautiful and poetic of allusions to be found in
the Scriptures. He climaxes his great affirmation, that
he will trust God whate'er befall him, with these pic-

100 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

torial words: "God maketh my feet like hind's feet
and will make me to walk on my high places."

Habakkuk must have been familiar with the moun-
tain stag or gazelle, one of the most nimble, graceful,
and fleetest of creatures. The hinds make their homes
in the upper regions of the mountains where they are
undisturbed by hunter's dog or his master. From these
secure retreats they venture down the mountain-side
to feed on the succulent roots and herbage. When dis-
turbed in their grazing by an enemy they disappear as
if by magic, their feet fairly twinkling in flashes of
speed; and when next one sees them they are far up
the mountain safe from harm in the high places with
impassable barriers between them and their foe. Habak-
kuk means to say that when the world seems against
him and everything has gone wrong, his spirit bounds
as the hind and is carried up into the high places where
the armies of Jehovah are around and about him, pro-
tecting him. There is an echo of the same thought in
Isaiah. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength, they shall mount up with the wings of
eagles, they shall run and be not weary, they shall walk
and faint not." It is an exultant faith when one is able
so to live. It is a triumphant trust. It is real religion
where God is loved for His own sake and not because
of any material reward.

One sees in this seraphic passage of Scripture a
spiritual declaration of independence. The soul is no
longer in bondage to the letter of the law, the ceremony
or the creed. The world, the flesh and the devil have

HABAKKUK'S HYMN 101

lost their power to enthrall. God is served for His
own sake. Here is a religion with all of self washed
out; a spiritual yet practical faith needs no defense,
and is impervious to criticism. Here is a confidence
in thq Divine like that of the afflicted patriarch who
cried amid his suffering — "Though he slay me yet will
I trust him." Here is a real religion — no artifice, no
hypocrisy, no mistaken emphasis or reversing of the
Divine order. Here is the top round of the ladder of
faith. This is the kind of religion that Paul had in
mind when he wrote, "But the fruit of the spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith-
fulness, meekness, self-control. Against such there is
no law." Here is a sublime confidence in God such
as Jesus taught in the sermon on the Mount. "If God
doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much
more clothe you, O ye of little faith?"

We praise God for Habakkuk, that brave soul of the
long ago. We know so little about him ; we know less
of him than the world knows of Shakespeare, and that
is precious little. We do not know how this prophet
looked ; the color of his eyes, the profile of his face, the
tone of his voice. Yet, notwithstanding, we can almost
feel the throbbing of his heart as we read hi si great
hymn of faith. Across the centuries he speaks to us
and bids us to be brave ; he calls upon us to love God for
His own sake and to serve Him without fear, regard-
less of the storms that beat upon us and the doubts and
difficulties that pursue us.

VIII

THE LADDER OF PRAYER

An Elementary Lesson in the Greatest of Schools

Genesis 28:12.

And he dreamed; and, behold, a ladder set
up on the earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven ; and, behold, the angels of God ascend-
ing and descending on it.

Luke 11 :i.

And it came to pass, as He was praying in a
certain place, that when He ceased, one of His
disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to
pray, even as John also taught his disciples.

VIII

THE LADDER OF PRAYER

"The history of prayer is the history of religion,"
declares Sabatier. In truth, the history of prayer is
the history of the human race. However benighted or
barbarous, man has always prayed though his prayers
have often been crude and mechanical. Between that
far-away time when Jacob saw in the vision of the
night a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, and the
days when Jesus of Nazareth prayed as never man
prayed before or since, the idea of prayer has under-
gone decided change and experienced marked growth.
The conception of prayer is not the same in both the
Old and the New Testament, nor is this surprising
since the revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures is
progressive, reaching its apex in the life and ministry
of Jesus Christ. Just how largely the idea of prayer
is developed in the Scriptures may be seen by a com-
parison of the teachings and examples of prayer in
the Old Testament with that of the New. In the for-
mer, prayer is for the most part to a localized God,
due to the belief that some places were holier than
others; in the latter prayer is to an omnipresent God
who hears the cry of His children without regard to
place or time. In the Old Testament the prayers of the
people are nationalistic and encrusted with the proud
105

106 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

belief that Jehovah is thet God of the Jew only. In
the New, the teaching is of a universal Father, a God
who is not a respecter of persons, race or conditions.
In the Old Testament the approach to God is largely —
though not altogether — through priestly mediation. In
the New it is taught that the lowliest of earth can
go to the heavenly Father without any mediator other
than the great High Priest who can be touched with
the feeling of our infirmity. Finally, the prayer for
vengeance which is found occasionally in the Old
Testament gives place in the New to prayer for one's
enemies. Samson's dying prayer as he twined his arms
about the pillars of the Philistinian palace and entreated
Jehovah to help him avenge his enemies, suffers when
compared with the prayer of dying Stephen for those
who stoned him — "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge."

It is interesting to think of prayer as a ladder fash-
ioned after the similitude of Jacob's dream, a ladder
reaching from lowly earth to highest heaven, a mystic
means of communion between man and God, a lumi-
nous pathway of the spirit. Jacob created his ladder out
of his dreams and in like manner we build the ladder
of prayer as we grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus
Christ our Lord.

Heaven is not reached at a single bound,
We build the ladder by which we rise

From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,
And we mount to the summit round by round.

I
The first round in the ladder is "saying" a prayer.
This is the most elementary kind of praying in the

THE LADDER OF PRAYER 107

school of Christ. It may be, and frequently is, purely
mechanical. It is the repetition of certain words or
phrases, but with the definite and dominate idea that
God is, that He hears and is able to help us. Children
"say prayers — verses" which have been taught them by
parents or guardians to whom their upbringing is en-
trusted. And this custom is tender, beautiful and al-
together wholesome. Think of the unnumbered hosts
of children who every day repeat that simple, yet lovely
prayer of childhood.

Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
This I ask for Jesus' sake.

We expect children to say prayers, but grown up
people also say prayers. There are groups of devoted
Christians belonging to historic churches who never
pray without the use of formal prayer or ritual.
Whether the habitual use — in worship — of a form of
prayer becomes formal or lifeless depends upon the
one who prays. To repeat a prayer without any
thought as to the meaning of the words — but mechani-
cally— is not to pray but to say a prayer. When the
disciples of John asked Jesus to teach them to pray,
He gave them a model prayer which has been called,
for some reason not entirely clear, the "Lord's Prayer."
It may be questioned whether Jesus gave this prayer for
such a use as we moderns make of it. I think He gave
it to His disciples as a pattern by which they were to
fashion their own prayers ; we use it as a form. There
can be no good reason for objection to its use as a form

108 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

provided it is not used solely as such. "Saying a
prayer" is better than not praying at all. It is the first
lesson in the prayer primer. It is the lowest round on
the prayer ladder.

ii

The second round is praying a prayer. This is a
distinct advance over saying a prayer. It is the differ-
ence of putting a roll of music on a piano player and
manipulating the same, and the playing of the music
through the mastery of the keyboard. Here is where
the worshiper passes from mere repetition to conscious
communion with God. A formal prayer can be used
to the good of man and the glory of God. I believe in
extempore prayer and utilize it in public services con-
stantly; but there are times when I cannot frame suit-
able sentences of my own; times when the mind is
weary and the spirit lags; times when a noble liturgy
becomes a necessity and a blessing.

That awful night the Titanic went down amid the
wild terror of iceberg and frightful expanse of an un-
plumbed sea, a dozen men and women clung to a frail
raft and battled desperately for life. Only a few sur-
vived the terrible exposure. Colonel Gracie, a dis-
tinguished American, was one who lived to tell the
story. He has left the testimony that as he and his
fellow unfortunates clung to the raft; their bodies
immersed in the icy water; the cold stars over their
heads and the cries of dying in their ears ; they repeated
together, and over and over again the familiar words :

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is
heaven —

THE LADDER OF PRAYER 109

And so on to the end and over and over again. Be
sure those shipwrecked men and women did not say
that prayer; they prayed as they repeated the precious
petitions ; they prayed as they thus communed with the
holy Father; prayed in intensity, in hope, in faith.
The age-old model prayer became that night a ladder
reaching from the cold waters of the Atlantic to heaven
and the Father's house of many mansions.

m

The third round in the ladder of prayer is praying
for self. Here one recognizes personal need and ex-
presses it in petition or supplication. The beginning
of prayer for self is usually almost wholly petition,
and self -centered at that. What we ask God for mir-
rors our inner life. Our petitions of yesterday do not
look well in the light of today, and they may possibly
shrivel more in the light of tomorrow. It is possible
to mark the transformation of character by the differ-
ence in the character and object of our prayers. The
Prodigal Son in the earlier stage of his career prayed,
"Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me."
How different his accent after the "far country" ex-
perience, when broken and contrite he prayed : "Make
me as one of thy hired servants." As far as the east
is from the west, so far apart in spirit are the petitions
"give me" and "make me." Like the prodigal, we too
have prayed the "give me" prayers; "give me pleasure,
give me fame, give me prestige, give me money, give
me worldly success." From the selfish prayer "give
me," we must turn to the noble "make me" petition;
"make me true, make me strong to do the right; make

110 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

me willing to suffer for truth' ' ; thus shall we grow in
Godliness.

The prayer that Jacob offered as he set out on his
journey into the new country where he was to lay
the foundations of his material fortunes is selfish and
of a bargaining nature. He vowed a vow and said,
"If God will be with me and will keep me in this way
that I go, and will give me bread to eat and raiment
to put on — then shall the Lord be my God." Contrast
this petition with his prayer at the ford of the river
Jabbok many years later when danger threatened him
and retribution for the wrong that he had done Esau
seemed close at hand. That night alone under the
Syrian sky, alone with his conscience and his God, Ja-
cob prayed : "I am not worthy of the least of all the
mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed
unto thy servant." It is to be expected that our primary
lessons in the school of prayer will not be as mature and
free from flaw as those lessons that are learned in the
crucible of experience, pain and suffering.

The prayers of the Pharisee and the publican illus-
trate extremes and a notable contrast in praying for
self. The Pharisee prayed thus with himself and for
himself : "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men
are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this
publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all
that I possess." And the publican standing afar off
would not lift up so much his eyes unto heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying : "God be merciful to me
a sinner." We have the judgment of our Lord Him-
self, that the publican's prayer had the approval of
God. Alas, some of us never get beyond the selfish

THE LADDER OF PRAYER 111

petition, the entreaty for personal preference. We are
more concerned with "mine" than "Thine." We are
submerged in what Dr. F. B. Meyers calls a sea of

w

The fourth round is praying for others. Here one's
prayer life assumes a nobler spirit and deepens and
widens like the channel of a river approaching the
waters of the open sea. Intercession with God for
others is Christlike and of the ministry mediatorial.
It is worthy of comment that in the Old Testament
times when the ideal of prayer was not so high as that
taught by Jesus, Samuel frankly acknowledged the
duty of praying for others in memorable words. Thus,
when he retired from judging of Israel and gave way
to Saul, the first King, he said : "Far be from me that
I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for
you." How many nowaday Christians regard it as a
sin not to pray for others — pathetically few, let us
confess.

It is difficult to overestimate the place and power
of intercessory prayer. Many a minister has been
steadied at a critical time and enheartened by a knowl-
edge that the prayers of the people were rising daily like
incense, for the blessing of God upon him and his
work. Many a son or daughter away from home, out
in the great world battling with strong temptations,
have been mightily refreshed by the thought that
mother's prayer never ceases to rise in behalf of the
absent boy or girl. I confess to a sense of wonder and
to a feeling of humility whenever requests reach me

112 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

for definite personal prayer for others. Thus, over the
telephone one day an unfamiliar voice said : "I heard
your sermon yesterday ; please pray for me that I may
be victor in a fierce temptation that threatens me." I
open my mail and here is a letter from a little girl in a
hospital far in the southland stricken with a serious
malady, and asking me to pray for her. O, the marvel,
the mystery, and the power of intercessory prayer.

A famous American preacher relates this story.
There was a woman in his church, old, bent, poor, but
somehow strangely radiant beneath her triple burden.
The preacher often wondered at her brave ongoing.
One day she chanced to tell him. of this. Too slim
her purse to give, too bent her body to serve, she was
wont to clip the obituaries in the daily papers and then
for each of the stricken households — to pray! Did
God hear the prayer of this shut-in saint? As dis-
tinctly as a mother hears the faintest cry of her first
born.

The fifth round of the Prayer ladder is praying "in
the Spirit." This is the acme of prayer. Here the
spirit of the heavenly Father and His children meet
and merge; this is the prayer of triumphant consecra-
tion, "Thy will be done." There may be no articulate
words, but the spirit of prayer permeates one's whole
being and it is as though the entire being were vocal.
The most spiritual prayers are often quite independent
of* form or ceremony and do not necessarily require
speech. In the greatest experiences of life words are
feeble and inadequate; but love and sacrifice speak in

THE LADDER OF PRAYER 113

the eloquent expression of the eye, the trembling of the
chin, the tear moist cheek; just so in the highest ex-
perience of prayer there is such harmony of soul, such
oneness of spirit with the Divine that speech could add
nothing to the glory and the consecration of the mo-
ment.

I recall an incident so intimate and tender that the
recollection is like the entering into some holy of holies.
The incident is one of several growing out of the
severing of pastoral ties of many years and the calling
as my successor, the young man who had served for a
year as my assistant. This young man and I had
enjoyed a year of unbroken fellowship. I had been at-
tracted to him upon first acquaintance, and I saw in
him certain gifts that I felt sure would fit him for the
educational directorship of the church. When it be-
came apparent that he would be chosen to succeed me
as minister of that old and conspicuous church, he was
quite overwhelmed with the thought and could scarcely
think his way through the possibilities of the promotion
with the responsibilities it entailed. In the midst of
those first hours of stress and uncertainty I went to his
study intending to confer with him there. He did
not hear me open the door. I saw him seated at his
desk with his arms stretched out across the table; his
face pressed against the polished surface was turned
toward me; his eyes were closed. I stood a moment
wondering if he were ill ; then like a flash I understood,
amid the anxiety and the elation of the sudden oppor-
tunity that had come to him he had turned in prayer
to Almighty God for light and leading. He had bowed
himself before the heavenly Father, and without any

114 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

articulate speech was seeking to find the Divine will and
to merge his will into God's will. I turned and tip-
toed out of the room, but there remains with me to
this day the picture of that young minister falling
back upon the Everlasting Arms, and the unspoken pe-
tition for guidance and strength. Thus do we build
the ladder of prayer, beginning with "saying prayers"
and ending with praying in the Spirit. On such a lad-
der the angels of God ascend and descend — messen-
gers of His mercy and love.

In the abstract this prayer ladder may seem fanciful,
but behold it now concretely in the life of Jesus Christ.
It is unthinkable that Jesus ever said a prayer, but we
may well believe He repeated with unction and grace
some of those great prayer psalms which to this day
are redolent with praise. Jesus prayed for Himself,
but no selfish prayer ever found utterance with Him.
He prayed for Himself that He might accomplish the
work where unto He was sent. He prayed in the pres-
ence of strong temptation for the victory of the spirit
over the flesh. But He prayed mostly for others. He
prayed for His disciples. He prayed for them collec-
tively and by name. He prayed for Peter and His
prayer for that impetuous disciple was answered. He
prayed for little children and was indignant because
the disciples discouraged the mothers from bringing
their children to Him. His prayer recorded in the
seventeenth chapter of John is an intercessory prayer
in which He prayed for Himself, for the disciples
that were then with Him and for all who should be His
disciples. He prayed for the unity of believers that
they might be one, even as He and the Father are one.

THE LADDER OF PRAYER 115

In Gethsemane He prayed the prayer of complete sub-
mission and resignation, "Father, if Thou be willing
remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will
but Thine be done." On the Cross He prayed for His
enemies, for those who had betrayed Him, for those
who nailed Him there, for all, "Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do."

Is it any wonder that the disciples asked Jesus to
teach them to pray? If He needed to pray, how much
more His disciples. To the School of Prayer as taught
by Jesus let us go in great numbers and for life and
forever. What boots it if our beginnings of prayer
are humble and feeble. If we persist we shall grow in
prayer as in stature, in years, in everything. Be-
ginning by "saying a prayer" we shall come at last
really to pray in the Spirit.

The builder who first bridged Niagara's gorge.
Before he swung his cable, shore to shore,
Sent out across the gulf his venturing kite
Bearing a slender cord for unseen hands
To grasp upon a further cliff and draw
A greater cord, and then a greater yet;
Till at last across the chasm swung
The cable — then the mighty bridge in air!

So we may send our little timid thought
Across the void, out to God's reaching hands
Send out our love and faith to thread the deep
Thought after thought until the little cord
Has greatened to a chain no chance can break,
And — we are anchored to the infinite.

IX

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM

A Study in the Essential Truth which Underlies the

Vagaries and Varieties of Spiritualistic

Experiments

John 16:7. (MofTatt's Translation.)

Yet — I am telling you the truth — my going
is for your good. If I do not depart, the
Helper will not come to you; whereas if I go,
I will send him to you.

Hebrews 12 .22, 23.

Ye are come ... to the spirits of just men
made perfect.

IX

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM

There is good reason to believe that interest in
Spiritualism is waning. The Great War with its
losses, separations and sorrows contributed largely to
the revival of interest in the subject, particularly the
publication of Sir Oliver Lodge's much talked-of vol-
ume entitled "Raymond." A reading of this book
fills one with commingled emotions. The sincerity of
the author is beyond question, and the weight of his
great name is impressive. Moreover, there is the throb
of a father's great heart in every page ; a heart bruised
if not broken by the death in battle of a brilliant and
devoted son. Some parts of the book are much more
valuable than others, for instance the chapters de-
voted to Life, Death, and Immortality. Least con-
vincing to most readers is the portion in which com-
munications from Raymond are chronicled in minutest
detail.

In the church to which I ministered for many years
an old gentleman who was a devout and enthusiastic
Spiritualist held membership. He was anxious to con-
vert me to his views, sent me numerous articles, and
on the occasions when I was a guest in his home re-
galed me with many experiences in the realm of what
he called "Revealments" from the other world. He had
119

120 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

lost two sons in infancy, and hanging upon the walls
of his living room were two life-sized portraits of
young men, which, he explained to me, were painted
by Spirit hands. The pictures were devoid of person-
ality and were so palpably spurious as to deceive only
the most credulous. Yet, withal, I could not but ad-
mire the old gentleman's sturdy insistence that he
knew death does not end all.

Several reasons occur to me why Spiritualism as it
is commonly explained and interpreted does not satisfy
the deep yearnings with which it presumes to deal. I
agree with Dean Inge — "If communication between
the dead and the living were part of the nature of
things, they would have been established long ago
beyond cavil, for there are few things which men have
wished more eagerly to believe." Then, the so-called
"communications" for the most part are trivial, trifling,
and unimportant. Nothing really vital has been added
to our stock of knowledge through spiritualistic mes-
sages. Again, if such communications were possible
it is difficult to understand why they cannot be made
directly to men and women who are spiritually minded
instead of through intermediaries who are often of in-
ferior intelligence and sometimes of doubtful charac-
ters. And what is still more fundamental — if it be
possible for the dead to bring us information as to the
nature of the life beyond death, it is a large question
whether such knowledge would not disturb the natural
order of things, and hinder, rather than help, us in
the life that now is. Pope's fine couplet is to the point :

O blindness to the future; kindly given,

That each may fill the circle marked by heaven.

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 121

These mild and tentative strictures of Spiritualism
are made with due regard for the open mind as well
as the good men and women who believe that the
dead return. There is something in this desire to lift
the veil and see what lies beyond the grave that is thor-
oughly human and readily understood. Not only so,
but back of and underneath the trappings of Spiritual-
ism, the tinsel and the show, there must be some
truth. It could scarcely be otherwise. I do not credit
highly the Spiritualism that finds satisfaction in "table-
tipping," "rappings," "trumpets," "ouija boards," and
trance mediums, but I believe in what I shall call "The
Higher Spiritualism," by which term I mean not com-
munication but communion with the spirits of the dead.

THE RULERSHIP OF THE NOBLE DEAD

Jesus said that God is not the God of the dead but
of the living. It is unlikely that many people believe
in "soul sleeping," — a doctrine which holds that the
vital spark is snuffed out by death until such a time as
it please God to rekindle it. The dead still rule us, not
merely from "sceptered urns" but from deeper sources
yet. It is difficult to say which is the more powerful
influence — the presence and inspiration of the living
or the spiritual presence and power of those whom we
call dead. Not a day passes without some reminder
through newspaper, conversation, book, picture or
monument of that great company who are not of the
flesh but of the spirit. I open a volume of poetry, and
the first selection that catches my eye is a sonnet to a
great Soul who lives not in a name merely but in the
thoughts, aspirations and deeds of a generation that

122 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

never knew him in the flesh. I listen to a gifted orator
speaking in behalf of a worthy cause. His is a voice
in the wilderness, and he pleads eloquently in behalf of
the poor, the down-trodden, and the long-suffering. I
see the flash of his eye and feel the thrill of his voice as
he calls upon the citizenry in the name of a mighty
leader, dead for more than half a century and bids us
follow his spiritual guidance. We speak of the "silent
majority" by which is meant the unnumbered millions
who have gone the way of all the earth. Silent they
are, but not powerless. Nor is this "rulership of the
dead" explained by the immortality of influence, the
"Choir Invisible" of George Eliot's famous poem.
Here is something plus the immortality of influence,
something deeper, more potent still!

It is good to visit Mount Vernon on the lordly Po-
tomac when Spring has clothed the Virginia fields and
forests in garments of velvety green, or better still
when Autumn has made the landscape a riot of color
— crimson, maroon and gold. What a high adventure
to stroll leisurely over that spacious estate, to wander
from room to room in the noble mansion, or stand un-
covered by the simple and unadorned tomb where the
dust of Washington reposes. So to do is to sense the
dignity, the courage, the patience, of that quiet and
courtly Virginian who willingly placed everything he
had on the altar of liberty, and then steadfastly held his
own through detraction, storm and calumny. Does he
not seem alive ? Do not the place, the house, the yard,
the fields seem filled with his strong and intrepid spirit ?
Instead of being less than he was when in the flesh,
General Washington in death is more than he was in

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 123

life. One feels this same emotion at Monticello where
Jefferson lived and his dust slumbers; at Lincoln's
tomb at Springfield, or in and about his old-fashioned
homestead there; at Emerson's grave at Concord; at
Mrs. Browning's at Florence, Italy; yea, and also at
countless graves of those unknown to fame who were
loved long since and their physical presence lost awhile.
Still more important is the fact that this emotion and
the stirring of the same is not confined to any particu-
lar* place, indeed is independent of locality though it
may be intensified by the place or occasion where the
imagination is quickened.

The ministry of the Spirits of the great dead is im-
pressively set forth in that notable oration of Henry
Ward Beecher's on the effect of the death of Lincoln.
I do not think there is anything to compare with it in
our language either in solemn and stately cadence or the
value of its deep and abiding spiritual worth. As he
describes the progress of the funeral train across the
States, the orator rises to majestic heights. "And
now the martyr is moving in triumphal march mightier
than when alive. The Nation rises up at every stage
of his coming. Cities and States are his pall-bearers,
and the cannon beats the hour with solemn progression.
Dead, dead, dead, and yet speaking. Is Washington
dead? Is Hampden dead? Is David dead? Is any
man that was ever fit to live dead? Disenthralled of
flesh, and risen in the unobstructed sphere where pas-
sion never comes, he begins his illimitable work. His
life now is grafted upon the Infinite and will be fruitful
as no earthly life can be."

This is not merely superb rhetoric; it is that and

124 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

more. The spiritual influence of Abraham Lincoln is
more powerful than was his fruitful life in the flesh.
Each generation is destined to be the beneficiary of his
sacrificial labors, but most of all the wide world is
forever blessed through the heritage of his spirit freed
from all limitations, and available to everyone who
knows the story of his fidelity and patience even unto
death.

JESUS' SPIRITUAL PRESENCE MORE POTENT THAN
PHYSICAL

Certain passages of Scripture which throw light
upon the potency of the Spirit's ministry deserve to be
reexamined and studied afresh. Portions of the con-
versation that Jesus had with His disciples in the upper
room are very much to the point. To the eleven friends
He said: "Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is ex-
pedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away
the Comforter will not come to you, but if I depart I
will send him unto you." Moffatt's rendering is even
more suggestive : "My going is for your good." Wey-
mouth's translation is also helpful : "It is to your ad-
vantage that I go away." Commenting on these words
of Jesus', an English scholar says that it was "A lof-
tier experience to which they would be introduced."
In what does this "loftier experience" consist? What
was the "advantage" that was to come through the
withdrawal of Jesus' physical presence from the world ?
There can be but one answer : His spiritual presence
was to replace His physical presence. The Holy
Spirit, the "Comforter," the "Helper," the "Advocate,"
^the "Ally," came instead. Jesus' personal ministry

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 125

was of necessity limited both by time and geography.
His companionship in the flesh could only be with a
chosen few. His spiritual comradeship is with all who
desire Him, and has eternity for scope and range. This
spiritual ministry of Jesus is without limitation save
where the human will is imposed and the door of the
heart unopened to His repeated knockings.

Jesus assured His disciples that they would do
"greater works" than He had done, and He gave as the
reason "because I go unto my Father." It is simply a
fact, not only of New Testament history but of many
centuries of history since the Christian Era, that Jesus
accomplished through His spiritual ministry greater
works by far than those done in the days of His flesh.
Here is an aspect of Christian truth we are slow to
receive; our stress is on the physical, our emphasis on
the tangible. We are slow to believe in a spiritual min-
istry apart from the material with which we have not
only knowledge, but familiarity. Perhaps if we were
willing to believe in the priority of the spiritual, the
doctrine of the physical return of our Lord would
not seem so important. It is an interesting fact that the
word "parousia" which is generally translated "com-
ing" when referring to the Apostle Paul is twice trans-
lated "presence." There are able scholars who believe
the word should be translated "presence" wherever it
occurs in the New Testament.

It is a tendency everywhere observable to become
enamored with the outward trappings ; to treasure the
physical vehicle above the spiritual content. Is it not
noteworthy that the author of the Hebrew epistle con-
trasts the old order, its forms and ceremonies; Mount

126 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Sinai with fire and smoke, the sound of trumpet, with
Mount Zion the New Jerusalem, the hosts of angels, the
general assembly and Church of the first born, and the
Spirit of just men made perfect? It is to the latter,
he says, that we are come and his argument is that these
latter blessings are better than the old, are indeed best
of all.

In that appointment that Jesus kept with His dis-
ciples in Galilee, He gave His final instructions to go
into all the world and make Disciples of all the Na-
tions. Then He gave the promise of His perpetual
presence, saying — "Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world." Or, to quote Weymouth
again: "I am with you always, day by day, even to
the close of the age." Here then in another form or
phrasing is the promise of the spiritual presence of
Christ. To be Christ's disciple then is to practice His
presence, to respond to the leadings of His spirit, to
be comforted, inspired, flooded, illumined through, of,
and by the Spirit. An oft-quoted saying of St. John
will bear much study and reflection — "Beloved now we
are children of God and it is not yet made manifest
what we shall be; we know that if He shall be mani-
fested we shall be like Him ; for ye shall see Him even
as He is." Yes, as He is, not as He was !

CONSEQUENCES OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

Is not this concept of spiritual communion higher
and truer than that of communication with those who
have passed beyond the range of sight and hearing?
Is there not an appeal here to the finest instincts of our
being, to the deepest yearnings of the soul? To me

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 127

there is and I am debtor to it a hundred- fold. It may-
be profitable to reflect on what some rare souls have
said of communion with the dead. Writing of his
father, Thomas Carlyle said : "Perhaps my father, all
that essentially was my father, is even now near me,
with me. Both he and I are with God." John Henry-
Newman wrote : "I am learning more than hitherto to
live in the presence of the dead — this is a gain which
strange faces cannot take away."

Sir Robertson Nicoll in his "Reunion and Eternity"
written while the Great War raged fiercely, has these
thoughtful sentences — "Is it granted to us to have
actual communion with the dead before the reunion?
We have no distinct revelation, and yet 'in clear dream
and solemn vision' much may be granted to the soul.
Christ holds the dead by His right hand and His left
hand holds ours. Is it possible that new currents of
covenanting love may pass through Him from one to
the other? How many can speak of sudden uplif tings,
touches, guidances, which seem to come from the
ancient love?"

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote to Lady Byron in
1857: "I have got past the time when I feel that my
heavenly friends are lost by going there. I feel them
nearer, rather than farther off. So good-by dear, dear
friend, and if you see morning in our Father's house
before I do, carry my love to those that wait for me,
and if I pass first, you will find me there, and we shall
love each other for ever."

Dr. John Ker wrote to a very dear friend : "I have
the firm belief that the future world is not cut off
from this, but one with it — one through Him who is

128 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Lord both of the living and the dead. Those who
enter into it retain a personal and conscious existence
near to Him, and He will find means of keeping up
their connection, I do well believe, with that world
which they have left. It is agreeable both to reason
and Scripture that this should be so, and it is very con-
solatory to us to think that we and our dear friends
shall still have real union."

Such testimony as this from men of letters and
learning is good. But not alone the scholar and the
saint, the woman in the home and the man in the
crowd can also keep company with the elect of all time
if they so desire. And what shall we say of the hearts
bowed down that have been lifted up, supported by un-
seen helpers. Here is a letter written to Dr. Joseph
Fort Newton during his ministry at the City Temple,
London, and reproduced in his diary of England during
war times. It is a most human piece of writing and
it is much more — it is a confession of faith in the
Higher Spiritualism —

"Dear Minister:

"Early in the war I lost my husband, and I was
mad with grief. I had the children to bring up and
no one to help me, so I just raged against God for
taking my husband from my side and yet calling
Himself good. Someone told me that God could be
to me all that my husband was and more. And so
I got into the way of defying God in my heart.
'Now and here,' I used to say, 'this is what I want
and God can't give it to me.' After a while I came,
somehow, to feel that God liked the honesty of it;

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 129

liked this downright telling Him all my needs,
though I had no belief jthat He could help me. One
day I had gone into the garden to gather some
flowers, and suddenly I knew that my husband was
there with me — -just himself, only braver and
stronger than he had ever been. I do not know
how I knew; but I knew. There was no need of a
medium, for I had found God myself, and, finding
Him, I had found my husband too.,,

Surely here is something more comforting and deeply
satisfying than recourse to darkened rooms and the
crude and sometimes repellent paraphernalia of seances
and curtained Cabinet. "Mystical experience," says
Rufus M. Jones, "does not supply concrete informa-
tion. It does not bring new finite facts, new items
that can be used in a description of 'the scenery and
circumstance' of the realm beyond our sense-horizons.
It is the awareness of a Presence, the consciousness of
a Beyond, the discovery as James put it that 'we are
continuous with a More of the same quality, which is
cooperative in us and in touch with us.' "

Think you the aerial wires «.,

Whisper more than spirits may?
Think you that our strong desires v:

Touch no distance when we pray?
Think you that no wings are flying

'Twixt the living and the dying?

It may be I should not close this study without in-
cluding my own witness to this most intimate and per-
sonal of subjects. One has not lived very long or
deeply until there breaks over him the billows of that
oldest and newest of experiences — death in the home.

130 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

I cannot think of my own dead either as sleeping dream-
lessly or inhabiting some far distant realm aloof and
withdrawn from those of us who are still in the body.
I can no more conceive of this than I can of God dwell-
ing a million miles away, and that prayer to Him must
perforce bridge so deep and awful a chasm. The com-
panionship of those who are absent from this life of
sight and touch and sound I continue to enjoy, but on
the plane now where spirit meets with spirit and the
sense of spiritual presence is strong and comforting.

Tender and blessed forever are the memories of a
lovely daughter who in the mystic days of maidenhood

Standing with reluctant feet
Where the brook and river meet

went out from us through the old, old gateway of
death. Lovers, friends, and comrades were we, and
never more so than through the weeks when she
bravely struggled to live and carry to fruition those
earthly hopes that rightly were hers to cherish. When
I reflect upon those days I find nowhere else such full-
voicing of their wonder and blessedness as in the
lines —

The hours I spent with thee dear heart
Are as a string of pearls to me,
I count them over every one apart,
My Rosary, My Rosary.

Yes, as a strand of the fairest and costliest of pearls
were those hours with our little girl in the days of her
heroic struggle for restoration to health. Came then
the day of days when early on the morning of July
19, 1 91 8, her wondering eyes closed on the scenes of

THE HIGHER SPIRITUALISM 131

time and change. Never since has she been far from
me nor is she now. I own the consciousness of her
nearness and of companying with her. Sometimes
amid the jostling crowds in the streets of a great city;
sometimes as I walk over the quiet country fields or
through the vocal woods ; sometimes in the hush of the
communion service in the place of worship ; sometimes
in the midst of that inner circle in the home which she
so adorned — no matter where or when, I feel the win-
some strength and know the restful radiance of her
spiritual presence.

Thus I humbly live and gladly have my being in an
abiding sense of the Eternal nearness and the unseen
comradeship of a glorious company.

You think them "out of reach," your dead?
Nay, by my own dead, I deny
Your "out of reach" — Be comforted:
Tis not so far to die.

X

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES

How the Divine Spirit Appraises the Worth of a

Christian Congregation and the Worshipers

Therein

Rev. ii :i.

And there was given me a reed like unto a
rod: and one said, Rise, and measure the
V temple of God, and the altar, and them that )
worship therein.

X

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES

The heroic company for whom the book of Revela-
tion was written understood its cryptic allusions.
Through a period of dark and turbulent years the
first century Church conducted meetings in secret ; and
by the aid of symbols, signs and passwords continued
her mission in the face of bitter and deadly persecu-
tion. The visions, figures, and cryptograms of Reve-
lation, which have been the source of almost endless
controversy, brought warning and comfort to our
brethren of the apostolic age. Assuming that this book
was written primarily for the generation to which it
was addressed, it does not follow that it contains no
message for these latter days. In a secondary sense the
book is freighted with much that is profitable for every
generation.

Interpreters of various schools of theology agree that
the allusion in Rev. n :i is to the church, its worship
and conduct. God is represented as appraising His
people and their worship. The apostle is bidden to
discern the spiritual dimensions of the house of God.

First, he measures —

THE AREA OF THE TEMPLE

Yes, measure the temple, but not merely the physical
area, for that were the least important. Some of the
135

136 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

most spiritual congregations have worshiped in small
and unimpressive edifices. Trinity Chapel, Brighton,
where Frederick W. Robertson preached those sermons
which were heard the world around, is said to have
sittings for only four hundred. Measure, then, not the
spaciousness or seating capacity, but observe how much
of the whole life of the worshiper is to be found in

I the house of God. Do the worshipers bring their all
to church? What of the vision range of the minister
and the office-bearers? Is the world objective of Jesus
Christ kept constantly before the people, or are the
ideals of the Temple provincial, narrow and mean?
It has sometimes been urged — and with good intention
— not to bring workaday memories or thoughts of
vocation into the house of God. There is a sense in
which such advice is good, but unless it be qualified
or explained it may be misleading. Let men bring
thoughts of shop, store, office and farm to the house
of God; let women come with recollections of house-
hold duties, the training of children, the never ending
round of domestic cares. Thus worshiping, it may
be that both men and women will come to perceive the
intimate relation between daily toil and the Spirit Di-
vine, and be strengthened accordingly.

God is everywhere measuring the churches today.
Are they big enough spiritually to serve and save this

♦ generation? Are they sufficiently maintained to min-
ister to every need of the community ? Are they feed-
ing the emotions and starving the intellect? Are they
providing for the adult life of the congregation and ig-
noring the children? Are the churches measuring up
to this need of the whole of life and supplying richly

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 137

those great aids to faith that are necessary for the
life abundant or, are they exclusive, snobbish and
class-bound ?

THE ALTAR

"Rise and measure the altar." The altar is the soul
of the temple. The idea of sacrifice is as old as reli-
gion. When the artist paints primitive man at worship,
he shows him kneeling before an altar on which a
smoking sacrifice is laid. It is the altar that has
given Christianity its supreme place among the world's
religions. The communion of the Lord's Supper is
more than a memorial ; it is also a symbol. The broken
bread and the fruit of the vine speak to us of His altar
experience, but do they mirror in any way the altar in
the lives of the worshipers? The basic law of the!
Christian life is the Cross. The very word "altar"
is impressive ; there is in it the idea of sacrificial service
and gifts, the ministry of renunciation. A church is
great in proportion to the size of its altar life. An
individual Christian is a power with God and man only
as the altar bulks largely in his thought and deed.

First century Christianity had no architecture
worthy of name, no edifice even of the humbler kind.
Its members met in upper rooms, caves of the earth,
private homes — anywhere that they were able to come
together and for the time be safe from the fire of the
persecutors. The churches of that day boasted no
"coffers" or material securities of any kind; they knew
no organized life save of the slenderest, but they did
possess the altar in a wondrous way. They shared their
all with the humblest of earth, and they gave themselves

138 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

without reserve for a redeemed society. How promi-
nently the altar was in St. Paul's life. How noble are
his flaming words; when replying to the critics who
questioned his apostolic credentials, he cried : ' 'Hence-
forth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded in
my body the marks of Jesus." It was through the
altar marks made by the lion which crunched his arm,
that the body of David Livingstone was identified
before it was buried with impressive honors in West-
minster Abbey.

"Rise and measure the altar," is a solemn injunction
to modern Christians. What is the altar life of the
average congregation ? What is the local church doing
* for the community ? What service, what sacrifice, what
ministry to the unfortunate, the despondent, the out-
cast, the poor? What of the altar in the lives of the
members? Is it strong or faint? Is pride still domi-
nating the rank and file of the Christian common-
wealth? Is prejudice still swaying the multitude of
believers ? Is avarice and greed corroding the hearts of
those who acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus ? Have
we learned nothing new concerning sacrifice since the
great war? Eighty thousand of America's youth gave
their lives to make the world safe for women and little
children. What of us who possess vigor, influence and
talent, what are we giving ? What of the altar experi-
ence on our part to make Christianity vital and fruitful
the world over? Is the Cross only a symbol, a mere
emblem to adorn a necklace or ornament for a watch
fob? Yes, measure the altar and let us know the
truth — even if it be an exposure of our meager ac-
complishments in the realm of the spiritual.

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 139

"and them that worship therein"

The measuring passes now from the temple and the
altar to the individual. True, the individual has been
included in; both the measurement of the temple and
the altar, but a more personal and individual appraisal
must now be submitted to. God is about to take our
measure in souj^walth. Have we learned to endure?
How much patience do we possess? Is the forgiving
spirit large with us? How long can we harbor a
grudge? To what distance and inconvenience are we
willing to go in order to right a wrong? Can we see
the weak wronged without indignation ? Can we exult
in the downfall of an enemy? Do we try to be just to
those whom we do not like? Can we bear this measur-
ing rod of Almighty God without a sense of littleness?
Are we growing in the great graces of the spirit ? The
questions are personal, searching, persistent, inescap-
able. "Lord is it I? Is it I? Is it I?"

There are a host of little Christians in the world, not
children, but little-minded, little-hearted, little men and
women who claim to follow the Great Christ. The
mystery is profound. How can a man be little who
really seeks to follow Jesus. No one can follow Him
and remain small of soul, mean and narrow of mind
— the process of following Jesus is an enlarging experi-
ence, the moving from lower to higher ground and a
consequent expansion of vision power. If littleness
still possess us and we call ourselves Christian, be
sure we are not following, we have halted; uncon-
sciously we have stopped and He has gone on.

140 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

By what standard does God measure the churches,
the area of the temple, the altar and them that wor-
ship therein? A popular custom is to measure our-
selves by others and observe with pride wherein our
accomplishments are larger and our growth more con-
siderable than neighbors, friends, fellow church mem-
bers. A man looks about him for instance, and after
the manner of a certain infamous Pharisee solilo-
quizes : "As compared with other folks I'm a pretty
good kind of a Christian ; I attend church more regu-
larly than my neighbors next door; I can offer a bet-
ter prayer in public than any man of the Official Board;
I thank God I am a more efficient Churchman than any-
one else in the congregation." That standard of meas-
urement is an abomination; it is mean, niggardly and
contemptible.

There are those, also, who while they scorn to meas-
/ure themselves by others are quite ready to measure
(themselves by themselves. These well meaning folk
look back over the years and see wherein they can
trace a growth in spiritual things and thus contrasting
present attainments with past, believe themselves to
find ground for self -congratulation. This method of
measuring is not so objectionable as the other, but it
is faulty and inadequate. In II Cor. 10:12, the apostle
alludes to Christians of that day who measured them-
selves by themselves, and he charged them with folly.
The difficulty is that such measuring keeps one self-
centered; it feeds pride, tickles vanity, chills enthusi-
asm, smothers the noblest impulses. Behold a more
excellent way I show you:

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 141

JESUS THE STANDARD OF MEASUREMENT

God's manner of measuring us is in Jesus Christ, His
son. Peter refers toi Jesus as our example and bids
us follow in His steps. Paul in a memorable passage
enjoins the followers of Christ at Ephesus to strive
toward high ideals : "Till we all come in the unity of
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ." The night of His betrayal Jesus
gave to His disciples a new commandment, and bade
them love one another even as He loved them. God,
therefore, is measuring the temple, and the altar, and
them that worship therein by and through His Som\
Consider how fully His measurements fill the require-
ment of the text.

How wonderfully His spirit fills the temple, minis-
tering to the whole life. Lo, His abundant provisions
for the old, the middle aged, the young and the little
children. No one is forgotten or overlooked; the out-
cast, the poor, the notorious sinner, the toiler, the house-
wife, the scholar, the peasant — all are objects of His
love and consideration. The sympathies of Jesus, like
the waters of some great ocean whose waves lap the
shores of many continents, reach every experience of
human life. He is everybody's Christ. He is the
same yesterday, today and forever. If lifted up in the
thoughts and deeds of His followers, He will draw all
men unto Himself.

In Jesus' life the altar was supreme. He came not
to be ministered unto. The spirit of sacrifice in His
life permeates the pages of the Gospels as Mary's oint-

142 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

ment filled the home of Simon the leper with its sweet
fragrance. He was among the people as one who
serveth. He set His face toward Jerusalem and of-
fered Himself upon the high altar of the Cross for all
mankind. Thus, he has become, as the author of the
Hebrew Epistle has aptly phrased it — "our altar."

With what vastness of mind and affection does Jesus
meet the yearnings of the soul that seeks Him; what
amplitude in the spirit of Jesus. No petty prejudices,
no sordid ambition, no greed for place or possession,
warped or dwarfed His character. The words that fell
from His lips were words of ocean-like breadth: "all,"
"whosoever," "everyone," — these were the phrases
oftenest upon His lips. How His abundant love, His
whole-hearted forgiveness, His gracious dealings with
publican and sinners rebukes the oft-times bigotry of
some who claim Him as Lord and Master ! Measured
by this high standard, how small are even the most
spiritual of men and women; compared with His sacri-
ficial acts, how insignificant the most generous of the
churches appear. In the deepest sense the spirit and the
principles of Jesus are measureless. The religion of
His day was that of the stated feast, the stipulated
tithe, the arbitrary service, the formal and stereotyped
Pharisaism. Jesus came with His large and lovely
outlook upon life, His deep and penetrating insight into
human nature. He taught the giving of good measure,
pressed down, shaken together and running over. In-
stead of the measured mile standard He taught the
nobility of the second mile; instead of stopping with
forgiving one's enemy seven times, He multiplied that
number by seventy, which was just another way of

GOD MEASURING THE CHURCHES 143

saying, every time you have the opportunity, extend
forgiveness fully and gladly. In the garden He left
the majority of His disciples at the outer edge. He
took Peter, James and John a little farther with Him ;
then, He Himself went farthest of all into the depths
of the Gethsemane experience — a symbolic act.

My brethren, it is not possible to weigh or measure
infinite love. No canvas is large enough for Jesus
Christ. Men have been trying for centuries to sum-
marize the character of Christ in lecture, essay, and bi-
ography; they have failed, or at the best, succeeded
only partially. I recall the title of one of these multi-
farious books with Jesus as theme — a title of becoming
modesty and singular good taste: "Jesus, An Un-
finished Portrait." "Unfinished" is here rightly used. .
What artist, orator, preacher, essayist, philosopher, has
appraised wholly that Great Soul, whether on canvas,
in marble, or printed page? God be praised for so
lofty an ideal, so perfect a standard, so sinless a life
as He hath given unto the world in His beloved Son,
Jesus — our "crystal Christ!"

Why do we follow, like a flock of sheep,

Tradition with a crook,

Or leave the vastness of the calling deep

To paddle in a brook;

When on the hills of sunrise stands the Lord —

Triumphant with a lifted flaming sword?

Why, when upon our lips the great new name

Waits eager to be said;

When cloven tongues of Pentecostal flame

Burn over every head:

Do we build Babel towers to the sky

From bricks and mortar, who have wings to fly?

XI

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE
A Brief for the Family Altar

Romans 16:5.
And salute the church that is in their house.

Colossians 4:15.

Salute the brethren that are in Laodicea,
and Nymphas, and the church that is in their
house.

Philemon 1 :2.

And to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus
our fellow-soldier, and to the church in thy
house.

XI

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE

Thrice in the New Testament allusion is made to the
Church in the homes of believers. The first of these
references is to Acquila and Priscilla, that interesting
couple who often entertained Paul and who taught the
eloquent Apollos the "way of God more accurately."
In the sixteenth chapter of Romans the Apostle closes
his lengthy letter by citing a long list of distinguished
fellow-workers. He calls them by name and salutes
them in Christ Jesus. He heads this notable list with
that eminent husband and wife, Acquila and Priscilla.
He bears witness that they jeopardized their own lives
for his. For such loyalty he expresses his deep grati-
tude and follows this with a salutation to "the church
that is in their house." The second reference is to
Colossians 4:15, where a certain Nymphia is remem-
bered and "the Church in her house." The third is
in the letter of Paul to Philemon, which consists of
but a single chapter of twenty-five verses. In this brief
epistle the Apostle paves the way for the restoration of
a runaway servant, Onesimus by name. He beseeches
Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a servant
but more than a servant, a brother beloved. The salu-
tation of this letter is a pen picture of a delightful
Christian home of the first century. It is directed "to
147

148 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Ap-
phia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow-soldier and
to the church in thy house." These three allusions to
the church in the home are brimful of lessons for
modern disciples of the Christ.

WHAT IS THE CHURCH?

What is the Church ? Certainly it is not the building
save in a figurative use of the word. The building
where the church gathers for public worship is the
House of God, or the "meeting house" ; it is the church
only in a symbolic sense. The Church is more than
the edifice, greater than the structure, mightier than
the cathedral. The Greek word for church means not
"called out" as has sometimes been said, but simply
"called together." It connotes a group of people com-
ing together with a like purpose of mind and heart.
In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus said:
"Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them." This is a fairly
adequate description of a church. Wherever a group
of people are gathered together in the name of Jesus
Christ, there is a church, according to Matthew. The
idea is developed by St. Paul who conceives of the
church as the "body of Christ," a building of which
Christ is the "chief Cornerstone," and also "the bride
of Christ."

FAMILY WORSHIP AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY

It is a matter of more than passing interest that in
the dawn of the Christian era much of the worship
centered in the home or family life. A study of the

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 149

New Testament, particularly Acts of the Apostles and
the Epistles, indicates how widespread this custom
was. To be sure we have an explanation at hand and
we offer it easily and naturally. We say there were no
public meeting places where the early Christians could
meet with safety and convenience, hence the use of their
homes for this purpose. That was often the case.
Sometimes they met in caves in the earth, as the author
of the Hebrew Epistle intimates; sometimes in an up-
per room as at Troas, described in Acts the twentieth
chapter; but oftenest the private residences of loyal
disciples were used for the public services. It may
be that the reference to "the Church in thy house," in
the three texts cited is to the public gatherings in the
private homes of followers of Jesus Christ. But the
Christian families of that day had a Church in their
home quite apart from the meeting of the brethren for
public worship there. Those of "the way" were ac-
customed to gather together in the family circle in the
name of Jesus. This can be shown from different
angles, but from none other so significantly as that of
the observance of the Lord's Supper.

An examination of Acts and the Epistles, leads us to
believe that first century disciples observed the Lord's
Supper in their homes and as a part of the daily meal.
Bishop Lightfoot believed this practice continued for
nearly a century. In the forty-sixth verse of the second
chapter of Acts, after three thousand were obedient to
the Gospel, we read that "day by day they continued
with one accord in the temple and breaking bread at
home." Now the term "breaking bread" here is un-
doubtedly a reference to the Lord's Supper. In Acts

150 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

the twentieth chapter it is written that Paul met with
the disciples at Troas and upon the first day of the
week were gathered together to "break bread." Here
again is the same expression referring to the Lord's
Supper. Just as the Passover was a family feast and
was presided over by the father who explained its mean-
ing, so we have good reason to believe that in the
beginnings of Christianity the Lord's Supper was simi-
larly celebrated in the homes of the Christians, and for
a considerable period observed every day. Gradually
the public observance which came to be on the first day
of the week superseded the family observance, although
not entirely for many years, as we may believe.

It is a question whether by abandoning the family
observance of the Lord's Supper we have not lost
something helpful, desirable and thoroughly Christian.
There is no reason why a Christian home might not at
least upon occasions of family reunions, observe simply
and helpfully the Lord's Supper, either at the begin-
ning or the close of the family meal. The institution
is a memorial. When Jesus instituted it He said,
"This do in remembrance of Me," and St. Paul ad-
vised, "As often as ye eat this bread and drink the
cup ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come." There
is something tender, beautiful and uplifting in the
simple memorial of the Lord's Supper when kept by
the faithful, whether in small or large gatherings.
Might not its observance in the home, occasionally at
least, make for a growth in grace and knowledge of
the Lord, and a binding of the family together in Him?
I think it might.

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 151

THE DECLINE OF FAMILY WORSHIP A CALAMITY

The decline of family worship is an ominous thing
—one that chills the heart of thoughtful Christians
everywhere. Fifty years ago, according to reliable
testimony, it was the exception to find a Christian home
without family worship. Today it is the exceptional
Christian home that observes daily devotions. In tens
of thousands of church members' homes there is no
definite recognition of God — not even grace at the table.
Need it be a ten days' wonder when young people from
such nominally Christian homes grow up into material-
istic and worldly ways? In such homes the children
see and hear much pertaining to business, society, par-
ties, motion pictures, and the daily round of tangible
things. But they observe no leaning on the Everlast-
ing Arms, they hear no calling on God in prayer, they
see no recognition of His bounty. Lo ! the Bible rests
unopened on the table or shelf ; the hymnals are buried
beneath sheafs of popular sheet music! Is it strange
the mind of youth in such environment comes to think
of God as present only at church ; the Bible a book espe-
cially for the minister, and religion something inci-
dental or apart from active, busy and successful life?
If our children grow up with no sense of the intangible,
who must bear the blame?

The restoration of the family altar is not an easy
task. Perhaps it never can be set up just as it was
fifty years ago. It is a question whether some forms
of family worship once in use are desirable in this day.
One would hesitate to prescribe any particular form
of family worship adaptable to every home and in

152 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

every circumstance. The principal thing is a recogni-
tion of God. If by simple service at the table with
readings from the Scripture or some aid to worship, in
which the various members may participate and the
minds of the family group turned Godward, then the
great purpose has been achieved.

THE RAINBOWS THAT HALO THE FAMILY ALTAR

There is something exquisitely tender and withal
ennobling that comes to a home by way of the family
altar. In times of prosperity and joy it is good to praise
God, to take Him into sweet and intimate account; to
recognize Him gladly and with thanksgiving when
the days are bright and happy and all is well. How
lovely the strains of a favorite hymn at such a time; a
song of jubilant praise! How blessed to gather about
the piano and all join in the melody of the grand old
hymn, "O Thou Fount of Every Blessing," or to lift
the voices in the more modern but tuneful "Count Your
Many Blessings, Name Them One by One." To re-
member God in the days of peace and plenitude — there
is something wholesome and lovely in that. To set
up a family altar in the very beginnings of the home,
when life is young and love is new and the home
is rainbowed with romance and glory — that is a divine
transaction !

Then when the gray days come into the home, as
come they will, 'and the burdens fall heavy, who can
appraise adequately the ministry of the family altar?
When sickness comes, when disappointment's blasts
storm the domestic citadel, when sorrow and suffering
rest like a pall over the family, how unspeakably great

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 153

and good is the altar in the home ! And when death
invades the charmed circle and the four corners of the
house are smitten, then the habitual recognition of God
becomes a veritable way unto heaven as in the dream of
Jacob, and the home is transfigured into a Bethel with
God over all! May it not be that a reason why so
many homes are undone and frenzied in grief is be-
cause of the failure to recognize God daily? Perforce
He seems afar off and aloof. But no stranger is He
whom every day we worship and by the clear eye of
faith behold! There is one verse in that justly famous
hymn, "How Firm a Foundation" the truth of which
can be realized only by practicing daily the presence
of God.

In every condition — in sickness, in health,

In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea —

As your days may demand, so your succor shall be.

WHY NOT A CHURCH IN OUR HOMES?

It is doubtful if any other impression is more lasting
on youthful minds than definite devotional habits in
the home. The now sadly neglected custom of "re-
turning thanks" at the table before the meal is to
multitudes of little children the first gesture of the
family toward God and is a thing of reverence and of
faith to a child's tender nature. The presence at stated
intervals of a ministerial guest in the home has
wrought wonders in after years, and when a guest
room is best known to the children as "the minister's
room," the token is indeed a fortunate and favorable
one.

154 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

A noble Christian woman whose life has blessed
thousands never ceased to cherish the memory of a
very great treasure in her home. It happened that the
silver Communion service of the Church was kept in
that home; the tankard, the goblets, and the plates.
The bread was made from "the finest of wheat," the
red wine was pressed from the "choicest of grapes" —
these too were prepared in that home and the prepara-
tion was a kind of Sacrament. The joy and pride her
father and mother took in giving their best to the care
of the Communion Service, and the preparing of the
loaf and fruit of the vine, became a holy memory to
this little girl who watched it all with wondering eyes
Is it a mystery or surprising to know that when that
little girl grew to womanhood and went as a bride to
grace her own home, it was to bring to the hearth-stone
the ineffable glory of spiritual ideals?

Dr. Russell H. Conwell, the distinguished Baptist
minister and lecturer, says that in his opinion the
greatest hour in a young man's life is the hour when
he leads his bride into the home he has prepared for
her, and as the two pass over the threshold the young
man turns to her and exclaims: "This, my beloved,
is our home, I prepared it for thee; I earned it for
thee in the sweat of my brow. Pass thou in and reign
here Queen of my heart and house." I can think of
only one hour greater than this and that is the hour
when a young couple begin their wedded life with
prayer together for God's blessing to attend them in
the wonder and glory of home making.

At the time of the terrible influenza scourge in 191 8
I made a call in a home which had for guest the grand-

THE CHURCH IN THY HOUSE 155

mother who resided in a distant State. This lovely
woman, whose beautiful white hair was a crown of
glory, proudly showed me a group picture of her oldest
son's family. There were three attractive children,
and the five made as blessed a circle as one could wish
to see. The grandmother told me that that family
was joyously Christian. Their home life was simply
and delightfully devotional. They had a Church in
their house. When the epidemic closed the Church in
the little town where they held membership it deprived
them of public worship only. On Sunday morning
the five enjoyed a period of prayer and praise. The
father took charge; the mother led in prayer; the
oldest of the children read aloud from the Psalms;
another offered prayer, and they all sang from the
Hymnals. Each member of the family took part and
the service, while brief, was impressive and joyful
throughout.

Compared with this, how poor religion's pride

In all the pomp of method and of art,

When men display to congregations wide,

Devotion's every grace except the heart!

The power incensed, the pageant will desert

The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole;

But, haply in some cottage far apart,

Will hear well pleased, the language of the Soul,

And in His book of life the inmates poor enroll.

My brethren, we should have a church in our homes !
The gatherings in the family circle should, at least once
a day, be called in the name of Jesus, and for the pur-
pose of recognizing Our Heavenly Father. If we
have not yet set up some form of the family altar, let
us agree to establish it now. If the altar was at one

156 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

time in our homes but has been neglected and ignored,
let us resolve to reestablish it at once. The House of
God has its inspiring and fruitful place in the life of
the world. Public worship cannot be superseded or
replaced entirely by worship in the home. We have
need for both; moreover, we can have both.

XII

THE LORD'S LEADING
A Meditation on a Memorable Hymn

Psalm 23.

Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pas-
tures ;

He leadeth me beside still waters.

He restoreth my soul;

He guideth me in the paths of righteous-
ness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil ; for thou art with me ;

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies:

Thou hast anointed my head with oil;

My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and loving kindness shall
follow me all the days of my life;

And I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah
for ever.

XII
THE LORD'S LEADING

A MEDITATION ON A MEMORABLE HYMN

"He Leadeth Me." — Psalm 23:2.

The Psalms of Israel have been called "The Songs
of a thousand years." Subsequent to the book of
Law, the devout Jew loved the Psalter ; and along side
of his Bible the Christian reverently places his hymn
book. How impoverished the world would be without
its Christian hymns! It is impossible to say which
has accomplished the most good, the preaching or the
singing of the gospel. Christianity is preeminently
a singing religion. It is doubtful if there is a great
truth of the Christian faith that is not associated in
our minds with some impressive hymn.
Is it God's love for the world as manifested in His
great Gift?

O Love Divine, that stooped to share
Our sharpest pang, our bitterest tear?

Is it the atonement?

There is a green hill far away,

Without a city wall :
Where the dear Lord was crucified,

Who died to save us all.
159

160 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Is it the missionary passion?

Bear the news to every land,
Climb the steeps and cross the wave.
Onward, 'tis the Lord's command,
Jesus saves, Jesus saves.

Is it comfort for the bereaved heart?

Come, ye disconsolate, where'er you languish;

Come, at the shrine of God fervently kneel;

Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish,

Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Is it submission and resignation to God's will?

My Saviour, as thou wilt —

0 may thy will be mine!
Into thy hand of love

1 would my all resign.

Is it prayer?

Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer.
That calls me from a world of care.

Whatever the aspect of Christian truth, there is a
hymn to extol it, a stanza to glorify it, a verse to
memorialize it. From the many great hymns, one such
is presented here for our study and profit. It is a hymn
that has for its imagery the lovely pastoral metaphor
of the most familiar of all the Psalms — the twenty-
third; a hymn known to millions by the title "He
Leadeth Me."

The hymn was written by Professor J. H. Gilmore,
who was born in Boston April 29, 1834, and died at
Rochester, New York, in 191 9. He composed the
hymn in 1862 in the very darkest period of the Civil
War. The writing of it was purely an inspiration.
Mr. Gilmore was at that time acting as supply in the

THE LORD'S LEADING 161

pulpit of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
One of his duties was to give a somewhat extended
talk at the mid-week Prayer service. He commenced
a series of expositions of the twenty- third Psalm, but
in the first address he got no further than the words,
"He Leadeth Me." That night he saw a depth of
meaning in those words that he had never seen before.
He spoke for half an hour on the one clause, "He
Leadeth Me." After the meeting was over, Mr. Gil-
more went to the home of a member of the church,
accompanied by a number of friends who had attended
the meeting. The little company sat up until late talk-
ing about the blessed assurance of Divine leadership.
During the conversation Mr. Gilmore took out his
pencil and wrote on the back of an envelope "He
Leadeth Me," just as it stands today, with one excep-
tion ; the stanzas as originally written were of six lines.
His wife sent the poem to the Watchman and Re-
flector, a leading religious journal of that day. Wil-
liam B. Bradbury, the composer, read the verses and
at once recognized their merit. He took two lines off
each stanza and added two others to make the chorus
and set the words to music. From the very first the
words and tune seemed inseparable. To quote a com-
petent critic, "Few hymn composers have so exactly
caught the tone and spirit of their texts as Bradbury
did when he vocalized the gliding measures of 'He
Leadeth Me.' "

A study of this memorable hymn reveals the fact
that the exalted theme is developed, and enriched,
stanza by stanza, reaching "A glorious summit" in the
fourth and last.

162 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

The hymn rightly opens with the transcendent
thought that the leading is of the Lord.

He leadeth me, O blessed thought !

O words with Heavenly comfort fraught!

Whate'er I do, where'er I be,

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Thus the first line fixes the mind on Divine leader-
ship and bids the weary soul rest securely in God. The
Lord's leading is a favorite theme of the Bible writers,
and the idea is presented and expanded under various
figures. In Exodus 3 :2 it is written "And Jehovah
went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead
them the way, and by night by a pillar of fire to give
them light." John Henry Newman employs felici-
tously the familiar and eloquent figure in his "Lead
kindly Light! amid th' encircling gloom." The meta-
phor is impressive even though it is impersonal and
the thought somewhat abstract. The twenty-third
Psalm portrays the Lord's leading under the similitude
of the Oriental shepherd who knows his sheep by name
and goes before them providing green pastures and
ample protection against their natural enemies. The
imagery is attractive even to us moderns, and "thy rod
and thy staff" a precious and comforting assurance.
In this hymn, however, the Leader is contemplated not
wholly as a shepherd, but as the Heavenly Father.
The idea is fuller and farther advanced than the con-
ception of God as revealed in the Old Testament.
There God is first revealed as Creator with the idea of
force uppermost, then as Ruler of the universe with
the idea of law as supreme, and finally through the
prophets of Israel as an Infinite Personality, a God of

THE LORD'S LEADING 163

justice, purity and righteousness. The thought here
is of Christ who taught us by word and deed that the
Heavenly Father knows and cares, and is not willing
that the least of His children should perish.

" 'Tis God's hand that leadeth." Surely these are
words with Heavenly comfort fraught, words that have
brought peace and comfort to many a troubled soul.
When President Garfield was lying on a bed of suffer-
ing from which he was not to rise, he heard his wife
singing in an adjoining room, the words "Guide me,
O Thou great Jehovah !" As he listened, the wan face
of the stricken president lighted up radiantly, and to
a watcher by his bedside he exclaimed, "Isn't it beauti-
ful, isn't it full of comfort?" Some years ago Rud-
yard Kipling was lying at the point of death in a New
York hospital and all hope of his recovery had been
abandoned. His nurse asked him with tender solicitude
if there was anything he wanted. "Yes," he replied
feebly, "I want, I want my Heavenly Father." When
Alexander Campbell was dying, his wife bending over
him, whispered: "The blessed Savior will go with you
all the way." Mr. Campbell opened his eyes and ex-
claimed: "That He will, that He will." Oh, blessed,
thrice blessed is the man or woman who is able to say
in deep conviction and with unfaltering faith, "He
Leadeth Me."

In the second stanza the thought is of life's changing
scenes through which the Unchanging Leader leads on.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
By waters still, o'er troubled sea
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

164* WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

This stanza is the most poetic of the four. The
antithesis is striking and the phrases set in opposition
were chosen with discrimination and an eye to form
and color. What could be lovelier than "Eden's
bowers"? The imagination fashions a garden of de-
light where flowers bloom in profusion amid a tangle
of vine and leaf ; a lovely spot where soft and fragrant
breezes blow and the songs of birds fill the air with
melody of the wildwood; and over all the sunlight
pours a golden flood. Side by side with this Edenic
scene is another and of "deepest gloom." The paeon has
become a threnody, mirth gives place to lamentation,
there is experience of barren gain and bitter loss. "By
waters still"; here the poet borrows from the shep-
herd's Psalm again. The scene is one of serenity, of
pastoral beauty, and with peace brooding over all.
"Troubled sea"; old ocean in the grip of a raging
storm, breakers thundering against the rock-bound
coast, a ship in distress, and sailors straining their eyes
through the darkness searching vainly for a harbor
light. Such are the diverse and different scenes sug-
gested by these striking phrases.

The strong and vivid contrasts of this stanza are
fully warranted by the facts of life. The four seasons
of the year mirror the seasons of the soul, and the
varied experiences that distinguish our days. Verily
we spend our years as a tale that is told, and no tale
is worth the telling that does not involve life's endless
variations. Like the changing landscape, so are our
lives. The "Heaven kissing hill," the desert plain, the
verdant meadow, and the dark forest of hidden peril,
God has joined together the light and the shadow.

THE LORD'S LEADING 165

Both are very real; both are parts of an infinite plan
and necessary to man's best growth. Moreover change
and decay lose their terror in the presence of a Guide
who changeth not, and One able to conduct us through
the "valley of the shadow." Mr. Moody delighted to
tell of a man who placed the inscription "God is Love"
on a weathervane and in letters large enough to be read
by passers-by. When someone chided the man with
irreverence, saying, "Do you mean to publish to the
world the belief that God is as fickle as the wind?"
He answered, "No, not at all, I want people to know
that I believe that God is love whichever way the
wind blows."

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Bet-
ter the changing scene and a Changeless Leader than
bowers of perennial beauty and no one to guide us into
the abundant life of the spirit. St. Paul was persuaded
"That neither death nor life, nor angels, nor princi-
palities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor heights, nor depths, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So amid the varying
scenes from "Eden's bowers" to "deepest gloom," and
"by waters still" and "o'er troubled sea," our God
leads us on.

In the third stanza the Leader becomes the Great
Companion and goeth not ahead of us but at our side.

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur or repine,
Content, whatever lot I see,
Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

166 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

In the first and second stanzas, God's hand steadies
and guides. Here the tender and comforting thought
is that He holds the hands of His child, companying
with him in blessed comradeship. It is not necessary
to explain so beautiful an allusion; the parental heart
understands it thoroughly. Whoever has felt the clasp
of a little hand in which there was trust and perfect
confidence, understands the full import of the line
"Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine."

A distinguished American minister used to tell with
deep emotion an incident which occurred when he and
his little seven-year-old son were taking a trip together.
They occupied the same seat on the train, the lad sitting
next to the window, his face pressed against the glass
watching the flying landscape ; the father next the aisle
reading a magazine. Suddenly without warning, the
train plunged into a tunnel blotting out the daylight
instantly. Quickly the little fellow pressed his father's
side, felt for his hand, and having found it, contentedly
held it until the tunnel was passed and the darkness
ended. The pith of this story is not that it is unusual
but that it is a touching instance of a love and trust
which every parent knows.

The idea of companionship is dominant in this stanza
and the Leader is contemplated not as going before but
with us and at our side. To endure as seeing Him
who is invisible is to walk with the Great Companion.
The presence of a fourth Person in the fiery furnace
with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is more than
an episode of Old Testament history. It is a Divine
symbol, a token of "The Comrade in White." The
consciousness of Divine Companionship stoutened the

THE LORD'S LEADING 167

heart of Peter in prison, imparted courage to Paul in
the shipwreck that befell him on his voyage to Rome,
supplied patience to Livingstone m darkest Africa, and
nourished the faith of Gordon at Khartoum. Jesus is
here. "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world" is the most precious promise our Lord
uttered.

The fourth and final stanza carries the thought of
the Lord's leading to the last lap of the journey.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the victory's won,
E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

There is a certain somberness in the figure with
which the hymn closes. Death is pictured under the
similitude of a river with waters swollen and cold. The
metaphor is a favorite with hymn writers generally,
and its origin is easily traced. The river Jordan was
the natural barrier between the children of Israel and
the land flowing with milk and honey. The one-time
popular "On Jordan's Stormy Banks" identifies the
Promised Land with the Heavenly Home, the river of
death "lying darkly between." John Bunyan in his
vivid description of Christian and Hopeful struggling
with the river and then gaining at last the shining
shore, has had much to do in popularizing the figure.
In "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" occurs the dismal
line "death's cold sullen stream" and in another and
a lesser known hymn the refrain is "No, the waters
will not chill me, no the waters will not chill me, when
I go down to die." One prefers of all the hymns of
this character, "Shall we gather at the river" with its

168 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

tender line "the beautiful, the beautiful river." Yes,
"beautiful," but only so because One goeth with us
Who is able to breast the wave.

In the light of Christ's teaching the river of death
loses its terror and becomes "Such a tide as moving
seems asleep, too full for sound or foam." Our Great
Companion goes with us all the way. The author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, avers that by the grace of
God, Christ tasted death for every man. He went
down into the grave but it was not able to hold Him. It
is as though He spoke to us saying, "When thou passeth
through the waters I will be with thee, and through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee."

Thus beginning with the strong affirmation that it is
the Lord who leads, then vividly contrasting the chang-
ing scenes of this life through which the Changeless
Leader leads, complete dependence upon the Great
Companion is then acknowledged, and with a strain
of victory the last lap of the journey is reached with
the Lord still leading us into the unknown future.
Listen now to this hymn as it moves in majestic rhythm
like a noble river approaching the ocean and "turns
again home."

He leadeth me, O blessed thought,

O words with Heavenly comfort fraught!

What'er I do, where'er I be,

Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden's bowers bloom,
By waters still, o'er troubled sea —
Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

THE LORD'S LEADING 169

Lord, I would clasp Thy hand in mine,
Nor ever murmur or repine,
Content, whatever lot I see.
Since 'tis my God that leadeth me.

And when my task on earth is done,
When by Thy grace the victory's won,
E'en death's cold wave I will not flee,
Since God through Jordan leadeth me.

The power of this hymn and its influence over the
lives of men and women could be illustrated by many
touching incidents. It has been the favorite hymn of
hosts of Christian people; it has been sung at thou-
sands of funeral services ; it has been read by many a
shut-in with tear-dimmed eyes, and a great hope welling
in the heart. Amid the awful suffering and sorrow of
the Armenian massacres, this hymn brought a ministry
of comfort and of healing. A young woman mission-
ary of the American Board in Turkey, saw the depar-
ture of hundreds of Armenians going into exile, and
wrote the heart-rending description to an American
friend. The poor persecuted Armenians were going
to their death and they knew it. They could have
purchased prolongation of life and freedom if they
had denied their Lord; but that they never considered
for a moment. The scene of their deportation was
melting in the extreme, yet the poor tortured and loyal
souls praised God and glorified the name of His Son..
Tears streamed down the faces of the men and women
who were giving up their all for their faith. They
clasped the hands of the Missionaries and prayed and
wept over them. They all met in one final service of
prayer and reading of the Scriptures, and at its close
they raised their voices in the hymn "He Leadeth Me,"

170 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

and from the singing of these words went out and on to
death and glory.

"He Leadeth Me" is precious to me because it was
the favorite of a beloved kinsman to whom I owe an
unpayable debt. My dear kinsman was not a musician
and his singing voice was not strong, but he was a
sincere and loyal Christian and he loved the great
hymns of the church. At service on Lord's day morn-
ing this was one of the few hymns in which he in-
variably joined. He was particularly fond of the
chorus. As he went about his work he loved to sing
this hymn softly and over and over again. Sometimes
he sang it in the summer twilight sitting under the
trees in front of the house, at peace with God and man.
Sometimes he sang the first stanza and the chorus in
the sitting-room when the long winter nights were on
and the anthracite stove glowed like a ball of fire.
There are times when I fancy I can still hear him
singing the chorus of "He Leadeth Me"; singing it
soft and low; singing it out of an unshaken faith and
a hope which anchored his soul within the Veil; sing-
ing it now in a nobler, sweeter strain, amidst the glory
of the Father's Home and those loved long since and
lost a while.

He leadeth me, He leadeth me;
By His own hand He leadeth me;
His faithful follower I would be,
For by His hand He leadeth me.

XIII

THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES

The Nature of Jesus' Peace, and How and Why It
Differs from the World's Peace

John 16:33.

These things have I spoken unto you, that
in Me ye may have peace. In the world ye
have tribulation : but be of good cheer ; I have
overcome the world.

XIII
THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES

Was there ever a stranger peace conference than that
one of the upper room in Jerusalem nineteen centuries
ago ? How far removed and how different this assem-
bly from those famous peace conferences where the
victors in battle have dictated terms to the conquered
foe. Such councils have usually met in palatial rooms
flanked by the spectacle of earthly power and glory.
Pomp and pageantry have always been in evidence
when nations have assumed the role of peace-making.
How difficult it is for peace to emerge from an atmos-
phere of war. Fuss and feathers smother; sword and
saber intimidate; the kingdom of peace cometh not by
violence.

Gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem was a -^
group of men, plain, simple men, and with them their
Teacher, Companion and Friend met together for the
last time ere the great storm broke. The shadows were
Hong and deep in that room, and they fell darkly across
the little company who for nearly three years had been
partakers of a great privilege. These men were anx-
ious now and nervous. They were filled with appre-
hension of impending peril. The signs and tokens
were ominous ; a tragedy seemed confronting them, but
just when and how and where, they knew not. Yet
i73

174 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

there was one in that room upon whom no shadow fell.
He was calm, clear-eyed, composed and serene. He
sat there talking with His friends, simply, tenderly,
intimately. Surely no man ever spoke as Jesus spoke
that night in the upper room. Such a conversation
there never was before or since, and toward its close
Jesus said : * These things have I spoken unto you that
in Me you might have peace."

What things? Why the great utterances that had
preceded this statement. They are many of them and
they distinguish His conversation that last night as
stars of the first magnitude distinguish the Heavens.
Listen to the music of these words :

Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, be-
lieve also in Me. In my Father's house are many man-
sions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I
go to prepare a place for you.

Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not
know me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father.

Ye are my friends, if you do the things which I com-
mand you.

If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask
whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you.

This is my commandment, that you love one another,
even as I have loved you.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you;
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.

JESUS PEACE IS INWARD REST

Jesus' phrase "My peace" is distinctly interesting
and thought-inciting. JVhat is the peace which He

THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 175

intimates is unlike the peace the world gives? I
daresay that most of us are mistaken as to the nature
of Jesus' peace. When we think of His peaceful life,
is it to dream that His days and years were such, say,
as the poet Wordsworth spent in the lovely lake region
of England, quietly, serenely? If we have so thought
we are in error. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. For at least three years, the years of His public
ministry, Jesus lived amidst untoward conditions and
in almost constant controversy and opposition. He
was subject to numerous disturbing and disagreeable
experiences. His own family were unsympathetic with
His mission. His kinsmen made His work more diffi-
cult and were critical of much that He said and did.
He was never free from the inconveniences of poverty.
After His public ministry began, He seems never to
have known the comforts of a home which He might
call His own and to which He might retire for rest and
reflection. His oft-quoted words — 'The foxes have-
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man has not where to lay His head" — were not
poetry or rhetorical figure, but soberest truth. The
leading Churchmen of His day, who should have been
His friends and supporters, were His bitterest enemies.
They regarded Him as a heretic, an impostor, and a
dangerous fellow-countryman. His was the heart-
breaking experience to have the good that He did
attributed to the power of evil. His chosen disciples
gave Him a great deal of trouble, often disappointed
Him, sometimes embarrassed Him and made His
rugged way more rugged still.

Yet, despite the annoyances, the turmoil, and the

176 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

strife in which Jesus lived, the peace that passeth all
understanding reigned in His heart. However turbu-
lent His surroundings, inwardly He was at repose. It
was Jesus* inner peace that made Him conqueror of
outward unrest. He lived in harmony with the
Father's will, and His conscience was as untroubled as
the placid surface of a mountain lake when the wind
has died down and a calm settles over all. No mem-
ories of a misspent youth rose up to haunt Him, no
feeling of remorse or sorrow of sin darkened the mir-
ror of His spotless life. Thus He moved amidst the
distractions, the disappointments, the conflicts and
controversies of His day, calm, serene, self-possessed,
at peace with God. The peace of Jesus, therefore, was
an inward experience, not an outward environment,
certainly not freedom from the burdens of life. The
way He took was often painful, but His walk was one
whose steps were in perfect alignment with the will of
the Heavenly Father.

THE WORLD'S PEACE IS OUTWARD CALM

The world in general regards peace as an end, rather
than a means. It conceives peace to be the cessation of
war, stoppage of conflict, restoration of law and order.
This is desirable, to be sure, but the bitter truth is that
real peace is not attainable by mere outward adjust-
ment. Moreover, peace, enduring peace, is not only
the ending of one order that has been weighed in the
balance and found wanting, it is the beginning of a
new and better order in which justice, righteousness
and brotherhood are to prevail. Alas! it is only too
true that we are all to a greater or lesser degree affected

THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 177

with the worldly idea of peace. We stress outward

things, and look for the coming of the Kingdom

through exterior processes. The world as yet has

failed to make a lasting peace. Time and time again

great peace councils have, by the very terms of peace

the victor sought to impose, sown the seeds of future

wars.

Great Captains with their guns and drums,
Disturb our judgment for the hour.
But at last silence comes —

Yes, silence comes, and just about the time when
sober reflection and careful judgment is replacing the
fever and excitement of war, great captains with their
guns and drums disturb our judgment again; — disturb
it with the roar of cannon and the loosing of the dogs
of war upon a helpless society. The world professes
to love peace, brotherhood and justice, but conquerors
and victors are quick to make sure that the balance of
power is on their side, and that armies and navies big
enough to keep the peace are in training and ready for
action.

Few of us are free from the opinion that outside
favorable conditions are able to produce of themselves
inward repose. We think, for instance, that the pos-
session of sufficient wealth to protect us from the an-
noyances and anxieties attendant on meager incomes
and heavy outlays would produce a peace, where now
there is only distraction and anxiety. That it might
help accomplish this is freely granted, that society as a
whole ought to be protected from the fear of poverty
as well as the handicap of it is likewise granted. Yet,
even so, the most generous provisions, the most ample

178 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

safeguarding of this kind cannot of itself produce
inward calm. There are many living amid physical
conditions that are favorable to rest, recreation and
wide travel who are inwardly in a constant state of
turbulency, turmoil, and strife. Tribulations, however,
of one kind or another await the sons of men every-
where, and wait us despite wealth, genius, and even
godly living. These tribulations are inescapable, but
they are conquerable. Jesus overcame them, and the
same power that enabled Him to overcome, He assures
us, will enable us to overcome. It is the inner peace
that counts. Given the inner peace and the ideals and
teachings of Jesus, and the result is a peace such as
the world cannot give because the world has it not.

Why is it that society is slow to accept Christ's
peace? Why is it that individuals are prone to turn
elsewhere for power, only to meet disappointment?
Is it because we do not understand the nature of His
peace? Possibly. But a better explanation is that we
are not willing to receive His peace on the simple terms
He offers it. It is not true that the peace of God is
given without conditions, even though it be freely given
and given to all men. l 'These things have I spoken that
in me you might have peace." Ah, yes, the things
spoken in that conversation at the table, we must not
forget them. They are all-important, they are funda-
mental. Summarized, these things are as follows —
"Abide in Me." Let "My words abide in you." "Love
one another even as I have loved you." "Keep My
commandments." "Bear much fruit." "Bear wit-
ness." "Ask and ye shall receive." "I have given you
an example that you should do as I have done to you."

THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 179

"Be of good cheer." The peace of Jesus Christ is an
inward rest, but it is more, it is a way of life in which
love, justice, mercy, forgiveness, find radiant demon-
stration.

"When he called upon men to follow him, to share
his baptism and drink his cup," says W. E. Orchard,
"He was not mocking them with impossible ideals.
He was asking them to be as he was, to live for the
same ends, to undertake the same task. Jesus invited
men to his ethical and spiritual level. The blunting of
this call by the declaration that Jesus can never be
followed by mortal men is responsible for the low state
of Christian discipleship."

Candor compels the admission that the world's idea
of peace is still influential in the churches. Here too,
the emphasis is largely on outward conformity, the de-
pendence on ecclesiastical and doctrinal regularity.
These have been only too often the weapons of
Christendom to enforce uniformity and promote ap-
pearance of solidarity. The various denominations,
after the fashion of nations, have their "war parties,"
their "jingoes" and "dollar diplomacy." These power-
ful elements are intent on preserving traditional ideas
and time-worn methods, by recourse to sectarian arma-
ment and threat of excommunication or brand of
heresy and stigma of unorthodoxy. Thus has the
cause of Jesus' peace been betrayed oft-times in the
house of the Master. Sectarian disarmament must
take place among the denominations before the Church
can ever have an influential voice and great prestige
in the Peace Councils of the world.

180 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

JESUS BESTOWS HIS PEACE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE
WORLD

The world is partial, prejudiced and class-conscious
in its gift of peace. It exalts some by pulling down
others. It enriches a few by impoverishing many.
Jesus gives His peace to all who will accept Him. He
draws no circles, builds no walls, makes no limitations
as to caste, color, or character. His gracious invita-
tion to peace, power and plenty is inclusive and all-
encompassing. "Come unto Me all ye that labor and
are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and
lowly of heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Jesus' gift of peace is Himself. He had nothing to
give the world save Himself, and greater gift than
self no one can give. The world balks at giving self,
it bestows favors, offices, emoluments. Jesus gave
Himself in His death on the cross. Dying there amid
darkness and degradation He made peace, individual
peace, possible for the least and lowliest of earth.
There are many theories of the atonement, and follow-
ers of Christ will never be agreed upon any one of
these theories, but the glorious fact of the atonement
is not disputable or under debate or question. Says
St. Paul — "He is our peace." By His death there on
that central cross Jesus led the way for enduring peace,
not only between God and man, but between man and
man. The peace councils of the world have not yet
learned the way of the cross. Their way is still the

THE PEACE CHRIST GIVES 181

way of the sword and that is the way of death and
darkness and suffering.

Jesus' gift of Himself is also in life, the life of His
free and victorious Spirit through which He abides in
every heart which accords Him room. Most gifts
lose sooner or later their power to thrill, to interest,
to please, but not so this gift of Christ given freely to
everyone who will receive Him. Whoso possesses the
world's peace will thirst again, but whoso possesses the
peace of Christ will never know the necessity for any-
thing better or more satisfying. His is the peace that
passes all understanding because of its exquisitely fine
quality, its lastingness and satisfying nature.

How impoverished the centuries would be if there
were taken from them the lives of many humble and
lowly who were filled with the peace of Jesus Christ.
As for the mighty men who led in world-movements
and helped to change the course of history for the
better, Christ's peace ruled their lives. St. Paul knew
that peace and it enabled him to establish the Christian
faith in hostile communities, testify before kings and
queens, and face lion-heartedly brutal mobs bent on
putting him to death. Martin Luther knew this peace
of Christ and amidst the wildest storms of controversy
he stood undaunted and persevering in his mighty
tasks. Abraham Lincoln possessed this peace and it
taught him patience and kept him calm and sweet when
rancor and contumely swirled around him as furious
floods swirl around a massive pier.

Oh, ye hosts who know only the world's peace ! Go
get ye to the upper room and there learn the peace that
is pure, just and holy — the peace that Christ gives to

182 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

all; the peace for which a war-scourged world waits.
For without His peace all plans and programs of dis-
armament will be but as some fair dream which van-
ishes with the morning and cannot be recalled.

XIV

OTHER SHEEP

An Attempt to Appraise the Scattered Flock of God
at Their Value in the Good Shepherd's Sight

John 10:16.

Other sheep I have, which are not of this
fold: them also I must bring, and they shall
hear my voice; and they shall become one
flock, one shepherd.

XIV

#THER SHEEP

If one were to take a pen and designate with a tiny
star every reference in the Holy Scriptures to sheep
and shepherds, the result would be an "inky way"
from Genesis to Revelation ; with the stars most multi-
tudinous in portions of the Psalms, parts of the
Prophecies, and throughout the Gospels. The land of
the Bible is the shepherd's own country where he lives
with his flock, knows them by name, protects them,
sustains them, and defends them from their natural
enemies. One of the favorite names of the Old Testa-
ment is Rachel, which means "ewe," and the phrase
"Shepherd of Israel" as applied to Jehovah is exquisite
poetry. The Shepherd's Psalm is a most appropriate
name for the twenty-third Psalm and the pastoral scene
it pictures is enchanting: the green pastures, the still
waters, the valley of the shadow, the rod and the staff,
the overflowing cup, the safety and comfort of the
fold, who can forget the strength and beauty of such
imagery ?

Jesus was fond of this Shepherd figure and some of
his notable parables are interwoven with pastoral
imagery. It is an interesting fact, and not without its
pathos, that as the shadows of the end fell upon His
disciples, the Old Testament figure of the sheep of
185

186 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

God's pasture was often in His mind and on His lips.
Thus, He comforted His disciples with the words,
"Fear not little flock/' and in the time of imminent peril
in the last winter of His life He spoke the words which
John has recorded for us in the tenth chapter of his*
Gospel. Throughout the eighteen verses Jesus varies
the figure and enforces it in several ways. He speaks
of Himself as the Good Shepherd and His followers
as His sheep. He requires of them obedience and
trust ; He promises that no one shall snatch them from
out His hands. He makes it His concern to know them
and to know the Father. From the thought of the
sheep He passes to that of the sheepfold, of which He
said He Himself is the door, and from the fold He pro-
ceeds to describe the flock with the one shepherd.
"Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them
also I must bring, they shall hear my voice; and they
shall become one flock, one shepherd."

"OTHER SHEEP I HAVE WHICH ARE NOT OF THIS FOLD"

This utterance of Jesus must have startled His hear-
ers. "This fold" is of course the Jewish faith, and to
the zealous Jew all others were outside the fold. It is
difficult for us to understand the intense and bitter
prejudice of the Jews of Jesus' day toward all others
of alien faith and race. In their eyes all who were not
children of Abraham were "Gentiles," "Heathen,"
"dogs," and "wolves." They believed themselves to
be the especial objects of God's favor and the only ones
who were to be the beneficiaries of His love and for-
giveness. So extreme and fanatical were some of the
Pharisaical groups that such a sentiment as this has

OTHER SHEEP 187

come down to us: "The spittle of a Jew is more
precious in the sight of Jehovah than the life blood of
a heathen." Prejudice shut out from Israel all foreign
culture; no one could hope for eternal life who read the
books of other nations.

We stand aghast at such bigotry and yet withal there
is not a religious body anywhere without some adher-
ents who believe themselves to be the elect of God, and
all others outside the true fold. It were well if we
possessed a sense of humor and could see how very
ludicrous some of our prejudices are. John B. Gough
used to delight to tell a story of a minister who was
preaching in Boston when he saw the Governor of the
state coming up the aisle. Immediately he began to
stammer and finally said : "I see the Governor coming
in and I know you will want to hear an exhortation
from him and I think I had better stop." Whereupon
one of the old officials leaped up from a front seat and
said, "I insist upon your going on with your sermon,
Sir, you ought not to be embarrassed by the Governor's
coming in. We are all worms ! All worms ! Nothing
but worms!" This interruption stirred the minister
deeply and he replied heatedly, "Sir, I would have you
to understand that there is a difference in worms."
Yes, the difference — always the difference between peo-
ple, races, religions — the difference, — ah, that's the
rub! Why stress the difference?

If we are to be Christian we shall have to get away
from the belief that "the only good Indian is a dead
Indian"; that the only real white man is the Anglo-
Saxon; that "the negro is a beast"; that the Japanese
are all dishonest; that the Chinese are "a yellow peril" ;

188 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

that the Jew is conspiring to dominate the world and
lord it over all. If the Jew's prejudice toward the
Christian has been bitter and long-standing, then so
has the prejudice of the Gentile toward the Jew been
terrible in intensity and almost unaccountable in per-
sistence. Only recently the Jew has been the object of
a new outburst of fury; the controversy waxes hot and
the ancient feud continues. Racial pride and arrogance
is widespread and deep-rooted. We Americans of all
people should be able to take a broad and charitable
attitude toward peoples of alien birth, but alas, preju-
dice toward the "foreigner" in America is not the ex-
ception but the general rule. The eccentricities of
genius of whatever race dispose us to be tolerant, even
indulgent, but the same traits in a peddler, an organ
grinder, or proprietor of a fruit stand, move us to fresh
diatribes against the Italian, the Greek, the Pole. We
need to take to heart the admonition of Professor
Steiner: "Don't let one smell of garlic put a whole
army of Christians to flight."

"Other sheep . . . not of this fold." That is to
say, Jesus has sheep not in the recognized fold. In-
terpreting this statement in the light of His ministry,
it can only mean that all who seek after God and walk
in such light as they have are His sheep, and eventually
He will bring them all to Himself. When it became
known to Peter that the Gentiles were included in the
gracious invitation of Christ, he said, "Of the truth I
perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in
every nation he that feareth Him and worketh right-
eousness is acceptable to Him." Moreover, Paul, in
Romans 3 :i4, affirms that those not having the law

OTHER SHEEP 189

are a law unto themselves. "Other sheep!" — How
these words so true, so mellow of spirit, ought to
enlarge the horizon of our souls. The field is the
world. All the tribes, tongues and peoples come within
the scope of God's great love. He taught us not to
think meanly of any man or woman, whether black or
white or yellow, and of whatever social stratum. He
taught us to look out upon the masses of humanity as
objects of God's love and of the ministrations of all
those who have accepted the Christ.

There's a wideness in God's mercy,

Like the wideness of the sea;
There's a kindness in his justice,

Which is more than liberty.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind;

And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

"THEM ALSO I MUST BRING, AND THEY SHALL HEAR
MY VOICE"

It is the will of our Lord that His other sheep which
are not of the fold be brought to Him, that they may
hear His voice and own His shepherdship. The
method of the bringing of Christ's other sheep is of
the utmost importance. When Jesus spoke these
words, the thought of the approaching cross must have
been in His mind. Aye, that Cross would be the means
of bringing hosts upon hosts to know the Good Shep-
herd and to follow whithersoever He should lead. In
the twelfth chapter of John's Gospel it is recorded
that certain Greeks sought out Philip and asked him,

190 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

saying, "Sir, we would see Jesus." When this request
was made known to the Master He was profoundly
moved ; perhaps He saw in that request the first fruits
of the coming of all nationalities to own Him Lord of
Lords and King of Kings. Then it was that He
uttered that notable prediction : "And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself."

The "other sheep" are to be brought unto the shep-
j herd by human instrumentalities. This is the Divine
plan. Obedience to this command converts the church
into a missionary enterprise. Jesus first sent out the
twelve disciples; then the seventy; and just before His
Ascension He gave the church its great commission,
saying, "Go, teach all nations." The very charter of
the church is its commission to make other disciples.
The book of Acts is full of power and glory and ex-
traordinary triumphs because it is a record of the early
( church at work carrying out the commission. If
Christendom had kept this great goal in view and
regarded the church as a means, not as an end, — in
place of the denominational rivalries, senseless con-
troversies, and costly competitions, — this great mission-
ary spirit would have swept over the peoples of other
nations with power and wonder and saving grace, and
the great World War would have been an impossibility.

"Other sheep." Does this obligation rest lightly or
heavily upon the churches ? Truth compels the answer
that a host are not conscious of such an obligation.
For it is to the churches that we must look, both for
the material resources and the dedicated life, and in
both instances the supply is meager. The great body
of Christians give about thirty-two cents a year per

OTHER SHEEP 191

capita for the bringing of these other sheep to know
the Good Shepherd. Young men for the ministry are
difficult to find, the most capable young manhood of
our churches is answering the call of the commercial
world and not of the mission field or definite Christian
leadership. There are great churches in America with
memberships running into the thousands, worshiping
in magnificent temples, who have not given to the min-
istry or the mission field a young man or woman for
many a year. Somehow this obligation of other sheep
does not rest upon us as it rested upon Jesus. He
wept over Jerusalem ; not many Christians are weeping
over New York, Chicago or Detroit. He looked out
over the multitude and was moved with compassion.
We, His twentieth century disciples, are prone to look
on the multitude with derision, sometimes with con-
tempt, often with a kind of a blase indifference. Jesus
detected the faintest flicker of faith in some poor out-
cast and observed it with joy; we are often scornful
of those of feeble faith, and inclined to doubt their
sincerity and deem them doomed to failure.

Jesus' other sheep are everywhere, and among all
peoples and all ranks of society. These He must bring
and He must bring them through His disciples ; unless
they are brought that way they may not come at all.
Given a follower of Christ who has caught the great
vision and bears the love of God in his heart for all
peoples, who cannot rest until he has done all he can
to make these people know the new life in Jesus Christ,
and such a person plus the Divine Spirit becomes im-
measurably a power for God and man.

192 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

"and they shall become one flock, one
shepherd"

It is worth remarking that the Revised Version
translates not "one fold" but "one flock.' ' Why the
change? Professor Alfred Plummer, the distinguished
English scholar, says of this change : "Few corrections
made in the Revised Version are more important than
this. The mistake originated in Jerome's translation,
where we have the same Latin word to represent two
different Greek words. Wyclif followed him; and,
although Tyndale and Coverdale corrected the error,
the Authorized Version unfortunately followed Wyclif.
Christ says nothing about there being one fold, which
would imply uniformity: what He promises, and en-
courages us to work for and to pray for, is "one flock,"
in which there may be large measures of diversity along
with the essential unity belonging to one and the same
Shepherd.

"It is impossible to estimate the mischief that has
been done by this unhappy substitution of 'fold' for
'flock' in this important text. Throughout the
Middle Ages, few people in Western Europe knew
Greek, and Jerome's Vulgate led them to believe
that Christ had used the word 'fold' in both places,
and that He had inculcated a doctrine, which the
change of word was perhaps intended to exclude.
The doctrine, that the sheep not in the fold must be
brought in until there is one fold, with all the sheep
penned within it, gave immense support to the
claims of the Roman Catholic Church to be the one

OTHER SHEEP 193

church, outside which there is no salvation. What
Christ says is that those outside the then existing
fold, equally with those who were in the fold, shall
become one flock, of which He is the Shepherd.
Christ had come to break down, 'the wall of par-
tition' between the Jewish Church and the GentilesJ
In the gospel, the distinction between Jew and Gen-
tile was to cease, and the salvation which had been
offered first to the Jew, became the common in-
heritance of all."

For hundreds of years divisions among Christians
has been a thing of scandal. In England there are
about two hundred and eighty kinds of Christians; in
America around one hundred and fifty. There are f
seventeen branches of the Methodist family, twenty-
two of the Lutherans, eight of the Catholic, thirteen
of the Baptist, twelve of the Presbyterian and six of
the Adventist. The effect of such divisions upon the
mind of the people is at its best confusing, and at its
worst demoralizing. The first great stride toward the
reunion of Christendom is a united Protestantism.
The Evangelical churches have much in common.
Their agreements are vastly more than their differ-
ences. Protestantism is virtually one in its conception
of God and of its revelation in Jesus Christ; in the
power and reign of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the
leaders; in the nature and mission of the church; in
the place and potency of the Holy Scripture; in the
necessity of the new birth and the power of an endless
life. The things that divide Protestantism are the
lesser and unimportant matters. For the greater part

194 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

they are accretions of human devise, nonessential and
divisive. Too long have the differences among Protes-
tants been magnified .and the agreements minimized.
The hour is fully here to reverse this order, to minimize
the differences .and magnify the agreements.

Protestantism has something to learn from Catholic-
ism. Among Catholics there is little duplication of
churches, no overlapping of work, no competition be-
tween the churches. In Protestantism there is a serious
duplication, frequent competition and much over-
lapping,— the result is a waste of energy, a duplication
of activity, and misuse of vast sums of money.

It was my pleasure once to preach in a union meet-
ing in a community where the churches are strong and
vigorous. Four congregations united and for two
weeks we were one flock, and one shepherd. Protes-
tantism was united in that community. Methodists,
United Brethren, Presbyterians, and Disciples entered
into blessed oneness of worship and interest. On the
last Sunday afternoon of the meetings all united in
an observance of the Lord's Supper. It was impres-
sive, inspiring, and unific. The comment of a gentle-
man of a religious body other than my own is inter-
esting. Said he, "I've been thinking that if it is
possible for our four churches to be united for two
weeks like this, it is possible — if not now, some day —
to be united in this close way all the time." And this
is what many are thinking these days. But we will not
be able to make this great stride toward a united
Protestantism until we manifest the spirit and view of
Jesus in this passage, "Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold." Conscientious seekers after God in

OTHER SHEEP 195

this and other lands, whatever may be their degree of
enlightenment or denominational barriers, are included
in this Godlike affirmation.

Soon shall the slumbering Morn awake
From wandering Stars of Error freed,

When Christ the Bread of heaven shall break
For saints that own a common creed.

The walls that fence his flock apart

Shall crack and crumble in decay,
And every tongue and every heart

Shall welcome in the new born day.

Then shall his glorious church rejoice

His word of promise to recall —
One sheltering fold, one Shepherd's voice,

One God and Father over all!

Let us hope and pray that the poet's dream may be
realized, that the Master's prayer be answered — and
more; let us devote ourselves to this unfinished pro-
gram of Jesus with a zeal that shall amount to a holy \
passion.

XV

WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP

A Never-To-Be-Forgotten Day in the Lives of Four
Fishermen

Luke 5:1-11.

Now it came to pass, while the multitude
pressed upon Him and heard the word of God,
that He was standing by the lake of Gen-
nesaret; and He saw two boats standing by
the lake : but the fishermen had gone out of
them, and were washing their nets. And He
entered into one of the boats, which was Si-
mon's, and asked him to put out a little from
the land. And He sat down and taught the
multitudes out of the boat. And when He had
left speaking, He said unto Simon, Put out
into the deep, and let down your nets for a
draught. And Simon answered and said:
Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing:
but at Thy word I will let down the nets.
And when they had done this, they inclosed
a great multitude of fishes; and their nets
were breaking, and they beckoned unto their
partners in the other boat, that they should
come and help them. And they came, and
filled both the boats, so that they began to
sink. But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from
me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For
he was amazed, and all that were with him, at
the draught of the fishes which they had
taken; and so were also James and John, sons
of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from
henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when
they had brought their boats to land, they
left all, and followed Him.

XV
WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP

It was a never-to-be-forgotten day in the lives of
four fishermen. The scene is the shore of the Sea of
Galilee in the early morning. Two boats are drawn
up on the beach, and nearby the fisher- folk are busy
washing their nets. All night they have toiled, and
not a single fish did they catch. Now it is morning,
and all that the men have to show for their night's
work are the empty and bedraggled nets, their weary
bodies and heavy eyelids.

Does such a scene have any particular meaning for
us? Have we anything in common with those fisher-
men on the shores of Galilee that morning nineteen
centuries ago? I venture to say, much in every way.
The incident is eloquent with the token that failure
may result, despite our best efforts; that patience,
industry and skill do not and cannot invariably bring
success. Those Galilean fishermen were not amateurs ;
they knew that the night was the best time for fishing ;
they were familiar with the parts of the lake where fish
were most likely to be; they knew how to cast their
nets skillfully and draw in their catch warily. Yet
withal, their night's toil had been in vain.

Thus it is with men and women everywhere, and
quite apart from degree of culture, rank or possession.
199

200 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

We are of the same clay as those Galilean fishermen.
We too must know what it is to invest our all and
apparently fail. Toil, patience, skill, we freely give,
and apparently without results. It is the lot of the
teacher, the parent, the merchant, the tradesman, the
farmer, to met the baffling fact that futility sometimes
rewards their best laid plans. It is indeed this very
experience that tests the metal of manhood and runs
a dividing line between the faint-hearted and the
dauntless.

JESUS CONVERTS SIMON S BOAT INTO A PULPIT

Thus it happened that while the fishermen were
washing their nets, Jesus, accompanied by a throng,
came that way. Much of His ministry was along the
shores of Galilee, and a goodly part of it took place
on that famed little lake. As usual the people clamored
to hear Him, the throng pressed Him sorely. To
escape the crush, He stepped into Simon Peter's boat,
and having asked that the owner push out a little way
from the land, sat down in the boat, and from that
pulpit taught the people. When one gets thus far into
the narrative he comes face to face with the great law
of Christian service namely — The stewardship of life.
Whatever we yield to God, He will use, whether it be
small or great. Whatever we withhold from Him,
however vast in potentialities, God cannot use. Our
usefulness depends then, not upon what we possess,
but what we surrender to the Christ of our souls.

There is no dearth of talented people in the world;
brilliant folks are plentiful; but there is a woeful lack

WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 201

of men and women who have laid their all, much or
little, upon the high altar of service. Was it not Mr.
Moody, who when criticized by a cultured gentleman
for his ungrammatical English, pointedly retorted:
"Very well, what definite Christian use are you mak-
ing of your faultless diction?" Precisely that is the
test for us, everyone. Not what we have, but what
use we make of our attainments ; — that is the question,
A house, an automobile, a good singing voice, a talent
for public speaking, an interesting and entertaining
way with children, an engaging and influential person-
ality— all of these dedicated to Christian ideals and the
progress of the Kingdom of God will yield abundant
fruits, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred-
fold. Jesus used Peter's boat, and His Spirit today
will employ with uncommon fruit fulness, every pos-
session, every talent yielded unto Him. Blessed is he
who, perceiving the Divine presence, exclaims : "Take !
Fill! Use!"

There are strange ways of serving God;

You sweep a room or turn a sod,

And suddenly, to your surprise,

You hear the whirr of seraphim

And find you're under God's own eyes

And building palaces for Him.

DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP

The teaching at an end, Jesus turns to Simon Peter.
"Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a
draught," he commands. How splendid the spirit;
how stimulating the force of the words, — "Put out
into the deep." There is a tang in the thought Let
us be honest; we are prone to hug the shore. We

202 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

prefer the "safety-first" method. We like much to
dilly-dally amidst the shallows and the shoals. Espe-
cially are we so minded after one experience on the
deep where naught but failure was our lot. Ah, we
know, we know! We undertook with fear and
trembling an enterprise that called for courage and
persistence. We failed, and with that failure our ardor
was completely cooled. We agreed, for instance, to
take a class of young men and instruct them in the
Holy Scriptures. It was a big undertaking, but we
plunged in and struggled bravely. We gave what we
believed to be our best and we failed. We could not
interest the young men. We seemed unable to grapple
with the big problem. We felt powerless in our defeat.
We came away from that failure with our minds fully
made up. We said to ourselves — and at the time we
meant it — "Never again will we undertake anything
of that kind." We preferred the shallows rather than
the deep. We chose the shore with which we were
fairly familiar, rather than the great deep which we
did not know; and then right on the heels of such a
resolution came the challenge to continue with that
group of young men and to give ourselves with re-
newed vigor to the mastery of the undertaking. "Put
out into the deep and let down your nets for a
draught." Risky? Certainly. Dangerous? Possibly
so; but likewise rich in possibilities. There is nothing
to be caught along the shore, but far out in the deep
the prizes of life are awaiting the coming of the ven-
turesome and the brave.

God is constantly calling us to put out into the deep,
and this call to our souls is as deep calling unto deep.

WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 20S

Here are the Holy Scriptures. When it comes to
constant and diligent study of their great contents, for
the greater part we have not put out into the deep.
Our knowledge of the Bible is small and largely sur-
face. It is the Book everybody praises and few read.
We can quote John 14 : 1-6, Romans 8 : 28, the twenty-
third Psalm, and the Beatitudes ; but there are mountain
peaks we have not ascended, and great unexplored
areas of Scriptural truth. We need to put out into
the deep of these old and time-tested writings. God
challenges us to search the Scriptures diligently; to
read whole books at a single sitting; to compare Scrip-
ture with Scripture; to commit many a passage to
memory. Most of us believe in prayer, but only a few
are acquainted with the real heart of communion with
the Heavenly Father. We have been accustomed to
"say prayers' ' and to pray occasionally when the need
seemed to be especially urgent ; but only here and there
are those who are able to say with Jacob in the in-
tensity of his struggle with the mysterious wrestler,,
"I will not let Thee go unless Thou bless me." Oh!
we are all under the domination of the shore and the
shallows, where it is smooth sailing and commonplace.
Put out, O! slow of heart, and sluggish of spirit; put
out, where the waters are of unplumbed depth, "too
full for sound or foam!"

CHRIST THE COMMANDER

Simon Peter's answer is wistful, and it is also the
soul of loyalty. "Master," he replied, "we toiled all
night and took nothing; but at Thy word I will let
down the net." Now, there is vastly more in these

204 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

words than a careless reader will see. Simon Peter
was a fisherman and a sailor; Jesus of Nazareth was
a carpenter and a landsman. If there is one thing
above all others that a sailor holds in contempt, it is
the ignorance of the average landsman of the sea and
the things that pertain to sea- faring life. What does
a landsman know about a "spar," the "capstan," the
"halyards," or the various "masts" and "riggings"?
What is the difference between a "barque" and a
"schooner," a "brig" and a "brigantine" ? Which side
is "starboard" and which "port"? How little a
landsman knows the vocabulary of the sailor. Simon
Peter and his seasoned fellow fishermen ought to know
better than a carpenter, the best time and places for
fishing. And yet this Galilean with whom the fisher-
man had only a slight acquaintance up to this time,
presumes to give orders, and to take command of that
fishing boat "Put out into the deep, Simon, and let
down your nets for a draught." Such is the order, and
a landsman gives it. What audacity. Will Captain
Simon obey the order? It is a trying ordeal; it is a
severe test The fisherman answers, and his reply is,
all things considered, surprising. For one thing it is
full of humility ; for another, of obedient faith. "Mas-
ter, we toiled all night and took nothing; but at Thy
word we will let down the nets." It should be observed
that the word "Master" here is not the same word
usually translated "Rabbi" or "Teacher." This word
is peculiar to Luke, and means "Commander," "Ar-
ranger," or "Director." Thus it comes to pass that
Simon Peter, Captain of his fishing smack, retires

WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 205

from command, so to speak, and receives orders from
Jesus, the carpenter.

Thou hast not measured strength as we
Sea-faring men that toil. And yet —
Once more, once more at Thy strange word,
Master, we will let down the net!

"At Thy word I will let down the nets." Aye! that
was a noteworthy answer, and it rebukes us of today,
who are loath to acknowledge fully the Pilot of our
lives, recognizes His authority, and accept His com-
mand. If we but took Jesus at His word, what differ-
ent persons we would be ; power would supplant weak-
ness, love subdue hate, and our days become dynamic
for good beyond computation. Simon accepts orders
from his new Captain, and lo! the memorable issue
thereof. Back again goes the little boat to the deep
places, perhaps the very water where the four had
toiled all night without success, and there Simon and
his partner let down the nets. What is the use ? Noth-
ing will come of it. Why waste the time ? Yes, — but
wait; the nets are heavy as lead; pull away. What
have we here ? Why, so great a catch that the nets are
on the point of breaking, and it becomes necessary to
call the men in the other boat to help haul in the
multitude of fishes. The haul is so great that the little
craft is in peril of sinking. See the astonishment of
the fishermen. Look at their faces. Observe the
amazement and the awe ! Oh ! it is a wonderful catch,
and when Simon Peter sees the great number of fishes,
he falls down at Jesus' knees saying : "Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Peter did not want
Jesus to go. He did not mean just what he said, save

206 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

with regard to his sins. It was like him though to say
what he did; it was an impulsive speech, but Jesus
understood it perfectly. James and John, partners
with Simon, — and probably Andrew, though he is not
named, — were likewise amazed and impressed, and of
a right they should have been. Here in their very
midst was One who spake with authority, and whose
personality was radiant, and in whom were new and
surprising forces for good. Here was One who could
bring success from failure and turn darkness into
light. Surely it was worth much even to be with Jesus.
Yea, it was worth giving up all to follow such a
Leader, so able a Captain.

THE FOUR CALLED TO A NEW CAREER

There is that fishing boat piled with fishes such as
possibly no other night of toil had ever won. Simon
Peter and his partners received and accepted their new
life call. "Jesus said unto Simon, 'Tear not; from
henceforth thou shalt catch men." Now this predic-
tion of Jesus is a flash-light upon the Christian career.
Observe the phrase closely. Men and fish are con-
trasted. Here is the great catch of fish, and while the
fishermen are marveling over it, Jesus tells them that
their greatest success is to be as catchers of men. But
the meaning of the Greek word throws still further
light on their future career. Literally, the sentence is
— "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt take dive."
Is not the picture vivid ? There are the multitudes of
fish; you see them flopping about, — a great pile of
squirming, wriggling fish ; but even as you look, already
life is beginning to leave their bodies and they are less

WHEN DEEP CALLETH UNTO DEEP 20?

active than when you first looked. In a little while
death will have stilled them everyone. They were
caught to die. And thus Jesus tells the wondering
fishermen — "Henceforth you shall take alive." That
is to say, "you will win men and women, and save
them to that life which is life indeed — the super-
abundant life." And surely the fishermen perceived
some hint of the deep meaning in Jesus' words, for
when they had brought the boat to land, they left all
and followed Him. An accomplished student of the
Gospels holds that there were three stages in the
discipleship of the mea that Jesus called to be with
Him. First, as simple believers in Him as the Christ
and His occasional companion; second, the abandon-
ment of secular occupations and a constant attendance
on His person; third, when called especially to be
Apostles. This incident marks the second stage of the
calling of the four fishermen to be followers of Jesus
Christ. They leave their nets, their boats, their all,
and follow Him. The love of the lake, the habits of
years cannot hold them back. The fishermen are now
Apostles in the making.

We have in these eleven verses of the fifth chapter
of Luke a picturesque account of Jesus among the
every-day things of life. There amidst the nets and
the boats and the familiar occupations, the Son of God
gave a new meaning, and imparted a new power to the
lives of four fishermen. Thus it is that spiritual power
is accessible whilst we are busy with the every day
affairs of life, — the farmer in the field, the woman
in the kitchen, the blacksmith in his shop, the merchant
behind the counter, the conductor on the train. Thus

208 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

it is that God visits us here and now to turn defeat
into victory, to scatter darkness with light, and to over-
come evil with good. Deep calleth unto deep at this
very hour. God's spirit speaks to our spirit, rebukes
our surface thinking and our surface living, and
through Christ He calls upon us to "put out into the
deep." Have we not tarried long enough on the beach
and by the shore? Are we not done with the shallow
waters, where to be safe is to be useless? Is it not
high time for us to acknowledge the new Captain and
bid Him command our lives, even as He commanded
Peter's sailing vessel that memorable day on Galilee?
Yea, and more, bid Him pilot us "over life's tempestu-
ous sea."

Jesus calls us o'er the tumult
Of our life's wild, restless sea,
Day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
Saying, "Christian follow me."

As of old, Apostles heard it

By the Galilean lake,

Turned from home and toil and kindred

Leaving all for His dear sake.

Jesus calls us from the worship
Of the vain world's golden store,
From each idol that would keep us,
Saying, "Christian, love me more."

XVI

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY
SPIRIT?

The Ministry of the Comforter or "God in Action"

John 14:16.

And I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you another Comforter, that He may be
with you forever.

John 15:26.

But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the
Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, He shall bear witness of me.

John 16:7.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth : it is expe-
dient for you that I go away; for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you;
but if I go, I will send Him unto you.

XVI

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE H#LY SPIRIT?

Is there any other Biblical term more misunderstood
than the phrase "The Holy Spirit" ? What or who is
the Holy Spirit ? How define, explain or describe the
Holy Spirit? A great many devout Christians are
uncertain as to the nature and ministration of the Holy
Spirit. It is not surprising, therefore, that the man
in the street is perplexed by the term. Moreover, a
great deal has been written of a speculative character
pertaining to this subject. Arbitrary distinctions have
been made; mystical meanings discovered, and the re-
sult has been the darkening rather than the clarifying
of the theme. I venture to say that any attempt to
distinguish between "The Spirit of God," "The Spirit
of Christ," and "The Holy Spirit" is unwarranted and
confusing in the extreme. The three phrases are in
essence one; they are of God; they may be used inter-
changeably or synonymously. In this study a threefold
consideration of the "Comforter" is proposed: first,
the meaning of the Comforter; second, the transform-
ing power of the Comforter ; and third, the conditions
under which the Comforter was sent.

I

The word translated "Comforter" is the Greek
"Paraclete." But this new and unusual word means

211

212 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

little to the average reader of the New Testament. In
the margin of the Revised Version are found two other
words which aid us to understand who the Comforter
is and what He does. An examination of these mar-
ginal renderings may be profitable.

"Comforter" may be translated "Advocate." An
advocate is one who speaks for another and presents
the merits of his case in the most favorable light pos-
sible. The word is pictorial, it suggests a courtroom
scene and an able advocate impressively arguing or
pleading for his client. There may have been some
famous advocates, men so eloquent, so persuasive, with
such a comprehensive knowledge of the law that merely
to put one's case in such good hands meant freedom
from anxiety. Think what it must have meant to se-
cure the talents of such advocates as William F. Evarts,
Rufus Choate or Daniel Webster. The Comforter of
the Holy Spirit is an "Advocate." Advocate for
whom ? For us or for God ? In a sense for both. On
the one hand bearing witness of Him to us; on the
other bearing witness of us to Him. So Jesus in leav-
ing His disciples promised them the presence of the
"Advocate." And there is in the word a wealth of
suggestion.

The second word in the margin translating "Para-
clete" is the familiar word "helper." Thus Jesus spoke
to His disciples — "If I go not away the Helper will
not come." Here is a word that everybody under-
stands. In many of the well-known trades a full-
fledged journeyman is assisted by an apprentice who
is called a "helper." That helper serves his fellow
craftsman in many capacities. The Holy Spirit, the

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 213

Spirit of God, Christ's Spirit, is our helper, ready and
willing to help us in matters great or small. There are
>ome specific ways in which the Spirit helps the fol-
ower of the Christ. These ways are set forth in the
Scripture. He is, for instance, a "teacher." When
the Great Teacher was parted from His disciples, when
He left this world in physical presence, He sent His
Spirit to teach us. We may learn of Him many things ;
)e instructed of Him in the deepest subjects, even
though we cannot sit at the feet of Jesus as did Mary
in the home at Bethany. The Spirit is also a "Guide."
And what blessed help Divine guidance is in a world
where the way is dark and doubtful. The Holy Spirit
is our unfailing guide. Still again; the Holy Spirit
bears witness and testifies, that is to say, He confirms
and substantiates spiritual truth. Certainly this word
"Helper" is aptly applied to the Spirit of God which
teaches, guides, and bears witness. The Spirit also
convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment.
This is work of the Holy Spirit among those who are
of the "world." And even in this capacity the term
"helper" is most appropriate.

Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

In addition to the words "Advocate" and "Helper"
there is a third which translates "Comforter" quite
accurately; a term, too, which has come to have
through the World War a very large place in popular
favor. This term is "Ally." The Holy Spirit that
Christ imparts is our ally ; Divinity fighting for us and
with us. It is the knowledge of this ally that enables
many an apparently hard-pressed and all but defeated

214 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

man to say, "They that be with me are more than they
that be against me." There was a ballad much sung
during the last months of the great war which describes
a blind French soldier sitting by the window of his own
home, his little son by his side. They heard the sound
of martial music and of tramping men. The blind
French soldier requested the little boy to tell him what
division of soldiery was passing by. The boy looked
out of the window and was mystified by the sight of
strange khaki-clad men bearing a flag that was new to
him. When he reported what he saw to his father, the
blind Frenchman became greatly excited. Breathlessly
he asked the boy if there were white stars on a blue
field in the flag; he asked him if there were broad
stripes of red and white. The little fellow answered
"yes," and the blind soldier leaped to his feet exclaim-
ing— "They have come! The Americans have come!
France and the cause of liberty is saved. Our great
ally is here !" So may we think of this Spirit of God
and Christ, the Holy Spirit, not only as a Comforter,
as Teacher, as Guide, as Revealer, as Advocate and
Helper, but as our great Ally — Almighty God, Him-
self. Our Great Ally is here !

The coming of the Comforter brought a transform-
ing power into the lives of the followers of Jesus.
Symbolically He bestowed the Spirit upon His disciples
when after His resurrection He appeared among them
in the upper room in Jerusalem. Then, "He breathed
upon His disciples and sayeth unto them, — receive ye
the Holy Spirit." Actually and in power the Spirit

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 215

came on the day of Pentecost following His resurrec-
tion, came according to His promise; and with the
coming of the Comforter, the Advocate, the Helper,
the Ally, the Church was born. Observe the amazing
difference the coming of the Spirit made in the lives
of that little group of disciples. At the time of their
Master's arrest they all forsook Him and fled. In the
court of the High Priest, Simon Peter weakened and
lost his courage in the presence of a saucy maid who
twitted him with being a follower of the Nazarene.
After His crucifixion that little group came together
again, but they came in fear; they met in secrecy and
behind locked doors. His followers were like sheep
without a shepherd, they were broken in spirit and
apparently all power had gone from their lives. The
Comforter came. The Advocate arrived. The great
Ally emerged. The Helper was at hand. The Spirit
entered into the lives of men who had been cowardly,
and made them bold as lions. Peter, who had denied
his Lord, became the spokesman on that memorable
day of Pentecost. His words were full of fire. He
spoke with authority and was unafraid. In the pres-
ence of a great multitude he charged them with having
crucified Jesus who had become both Lord and Christ.
A little while later Peter and John, having been ar-
rested, were brought in chains before the Jewish Coun-
cil and threatened by that august body not to teach or
preach any more in the name of Jesus. How magnifi-
cently those two disciples answered that threat.
"Whether it is right in the sight of God to hearken
unto you rather than unto God, judge ye: for we
cannot but speak the things which we saw and heard."

/

216 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Stephen, in the presence of the High Priest and the
members of the high council on trial for his very life,
spoke with the same utter disregard of his own for-
tunes, and with a boldness that cannot be explained
except by the presence of the Comforter which was
with him in power and might. Then when sentence
of death had been passed upon Stephen and they took
him out of the City and stoned him, he died with a
prayer on his lips — a prayer of forgiveness for those
who did the stoning and with his face aglow with the
glory of God.

The history of the Apostolic Church is the Gospel
of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate, the
Helper, the Ally. The book of Acts thrills with this
infilling of the Divine Spirit in the lives of the follow-
ers of Christ. The letters of Paul glow with the same
light. No wonder D. L. Moody said, "The Holy Spirit
is God at work." Another eminent Christian and a
great scholar said, "The Holy Spirit is God in action."
Wherever a great Christian man or woman lives, it
will be found that the reason for their potent and
fruitful activity is because something is added to their
personalities and that something is the Spirit of God.
"I live, and yet not I but Christ liveth in me," cried
Paul. Paul plus the Holy Spirit accounts for his
career of incredible zeal.

The history of the Foreign Missionary enterprise^
affords another illustration of the transforming power
of the Holy Spirit. We are tempted here at home to
find substitutes for the Spirit, it is not so with our
fellow-workers in the waste places of the earth. They
are Spirit-filled and Spirit-led; there is a power and

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 217

poise in their lives which, with few exceptions, make
them a marked and set apart group of workers for the
Lord. When Henry M. Stanley found David Living-
stone after many months of search, he found him in
the very heart of the wildest section of Africa, a broken
\man physically, but spiritually full of fire and with
'faith unshaken. Stanley urged him to return to the
comfort and ease of civilization and the great popular
acclaim that awaited him in England. It was a tre-
mendous temptation, but Livingstone arose superior
to it. He would not leave his post of duty. Stanley
could not understand it at the time, but as he reflected
upon the matter it became increasingly clear. Living-
stone plus the Holy Spirit, plus Christ, plus God — that
is the explanation.

in

The coming of the Comforter was conditioned upon
Jesus* going away. "It is expedient for you," He said,
"That I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter
will not come unto you." The blessing of the absent
Christ was the coming of the Spirit. At the time, the
disciples could not understand how by the deprivation
of Jesus' physical presence there would come still
[greater blessing through His spiritual presence. In
(that upper room the thought of Jesus' going away held
only pain for His friends and followers, but they were
;soon to learn that it was only through His going that
the greater gain could come. Up to this time the dis-
ciples were dependent upon the physical presence of
their Lord in order to serve Him best, but they were to
do the "greater works" under the spell of His Spirit,

218 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

not His physical presence. In His physical presence
He was with them; by the coming of the Comforter,
— the Spirit of Truth — -He was in them. Says Bishop
Brent : "The presence of the Paraclete took the place
of the localized Christ not as a bare substitute but as
that which constitutes a superior presence, including
all that is held formerly and adding greatness to great-
ness, riches to wealth. In going Christ came in a ful-
ness which was wanting before He went, the fulness of
added availability, a higher degree of presence."

How easy it is for us to place our dependence upon
the physical, that which we can see, touch, and hear or
taste. How difficult for us to trust the Spirit unseen
and intangible. It does not come easy to say and be-
lieve it: 'Tor we look not at the things which are
seen but at the things that are unseen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal." The Apostle learned that truth
in the school of the Comforter. By the withdrawal of
Jesus' physical presence there came the unspeakable
gift of the Comforter, Advocate, Helper and Ally,
never absent, ever ready to bless, to heal, to guide.

In this fact that it was expedient for Christ to go
away that the greater blessing might come, is there
not a principle admitting of wide application? Is it
expedient that these apparent losses should come to us
in order that the greater gain may take their place?
Take the solemn matter of death, and the separation
from us of those we love and upon whose support we
lean. The anguish of separation is often too deep
even for tears. And yet, to those who hold the faith
of Jesus Christ, by that very experience new avenues

WHAT AND WHERE IS THE HOLY SPIRIT? 219

of power have been opened, and if the world of sense
and sound becomes less absorbing the world of Spirit
becomes more real. Absent in body, present in the
spirit, those dear ones seem closer than breathing,
nearer than hands or feet.

Was it expedient that our loved ones left us in the
flesh, that we should know them the more intimately
in the realm of the Spirit? Was it expedient that we
should lose their physical fellowship that we mfght
gain their spiritual companionship? In what seemed
all loss, is there not all gain? Is there not a higher
spiritualism than that which attempts to establish com-
munication with the dead, a faith which knows, realizes
and rejoices in a spiritual communion with those who
have gone from us ? I do not attempt to answer these
questions. I raise them and leave them unanswered.
There are depths here which we have not fathomed;
there are heights here yet unsealed; vast areas not yet
explored. Jesus brought to the world a new release
of spiritual power by means of the withdrawal of His
physical presence. Beware lest we think or speak of
our Lord as though He were "an absentee Christ."
Jesus is here. He is here in spiritual power. Here in
the person of the Comforter, the Advocate, Helper and
Ally. To quote the words of a great modern Chris-
tian: "He is nearer to us, not farther, than He was
to those fishermen in Galilee, but we seem slower to
forsake our boats and nets than they were. He means
us, through His all-embracing, all-reconciling presence,
to do greater works than ever He did as an individual
there; not to spend our time and energy in arguing
about those less great works of His, whether and how

220 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

they were done." We need not pray for the Comforter
to come. He has come! We need not plead for the
sending of the Spirit. He is here! We have but to
receive Him, be filled with Him and be led by Him.

No distant Lord have I, longing afar to be;

Made flesh for me He cannot rest until He rests in me.

Broken in joy and pain, bone of my bone is He;

Now intimacy clearer still, He dwells himself in me.

I need not journey for this dearest friend to see,

Companionship is always mine, He makes His home with me.

XVII

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC

A Hymn of the Nativity set to Music by The Holy
Spirit ?

Luke 2:8-20.

And there were shepherds in the same coun-
try abiding in the field, and keeping watch by-
night over their flock. And an angel of the
Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord
shone round about them: and they were sore
afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not
afraid ; for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy which shall be to all the people: for
there is born to you this day in the city of
David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.
And this is the sign unto you: Ye shall find
a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men
in whom He is well pleased.

And it came to pass, when the angels went
away from them into heaven, the shepherds
said one to another, Let us now go even unto
Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to
pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us. And they came with haste, and found both
Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the
manger. And when they saw it, they made
known concerning the saying which was
spoken to them about this child. And all that
heard it wondered at the things which were
spoken unto them by the shepherds. But
Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them
in her heart. And the shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for all the things
that they had heard and seen, even as it was
spoken unto them.

XVII
THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC

So interwrought are some compositions with certain
impressive occasions or illustrious names that it is
quite impossible to think of one and not the other.
One seldom hears, for instance, the stately measures of
the famous march in Lohengrin without thinking of
a wedding, particularly a church wedding. The stir-
ring hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" suggests
the name of Martin Luther. Thomas Knox's "Why
Should the Spirit of Mortal Be Proud?" serves to re-
call the life of Abraham Lincoln, whose favorite poem
it was. Comes Christmas — and the one passage of
Scripture that the occasion invariably selects is Saint
Luke's story of the birth of Jesus. Last night in many
a home this story was read to children just before they
said "Our Father Who Art in Heaven" or "Now I
Lay Me Down to Sleep." In tens of thousands of
Churches this morning this Scripture will be read and
made the basis of innumerable sermons.

Comment upon so flawless a production seems super-
fluous until one remembers that it is possible to praise
this narrative extravagantly and at the same time not
relate it in any practical way to present day affairs or
personal life. This is a peril always present, a tend-
ency everywhere observable. Today, with tokens of
223

224 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

the Christmas event on every hand and this place still
vibrant with the melody of "Silent Night," we can do
nothing better than to reflect on this Christmas lyric,
for such it is — a hymn set to music by the Holy Spirit.

The poetry of this passage is exquisitely fine. Could
anything of the kind be lovelier or more simply told
than the birth of Jesus as chronicled by "the beloved
physician." Here is an event — the most momentous
of all history, yet in its telling there is no embellishment
nor any tendency to lengthen out detail. The entire
twenty verses tucked away in a corner of a modern
newspaper would attract little attention and might easily
be overlooked. In twelve sentences the world's greatest
love story is told ; the birth of humanity's most colossal
Figure described.

The scene here described is pastoral, and the locality
already famed in Biblical lore. Over these same hills,
hundreds of years before, David had tended his father's
flock and fought successfully the lion and bear that at-
tacked the sheep. Years later the Shepherd King, fa-
miliar with both the sweets and the bitterness of re-
nown, musing on his boyhood days, commemorated
them in that Psalm of Psalms — the Psalm of the Shep-
herd's crook, of green pastures and still waters. On
these identical hills, to the shepherds abiding in the
fields and keeping watch over their flock, the Good
News came. Jesus' life was curiously linked with
shepherds and the shepherding ministry. He called
Himself the Good Shepherd, spoke of His disciples
as His flock, and said that He had "other sheep" not
of the recognized fold.

Why were shepherds so signally honored as to be

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 225

the first to hear the good tidings? Why was not this
stupendous event communicated first to a group of
learned Rabbis or others of the wise, the renowned,
and the great? Is God a respecter of persons? Was
this high honor reserved for peasants just because they
were poor? Was this distinction withheld from the
learned, the great, the rich, just because they were
learned, and great, and rich? I think not. There is,
to be sure, a fitness in the fact that the first heralding
of Jesus' coming should have been to the humble and
the lowly. The great majority of the peoples of earth
are poor and their lives a battle for 'bread and for
shelter almost from the cradle to the grave. Even
so, we may believe that this was not the chief reason
that shepherds were the first to learn of the Saviour's
birth. Rather was it not because they were best fitted
spiritually to receive the great Word? Edersheim,
learned author of one of the best known "Lives of
Christ" says that the flocks of sheep watched and tended
in the vicinity of Jerusalem were for sacrifice in the
Temple and that their guardians were not ordinary
shepherds. Whether he is correct or not, we cannot be
far wrong in assuming that the watchers of the flock
that night of nights possessed a certain preparation of
mind and affections to receive the Revelation. The
learned, the famous, the exalted of that day, as pos-
sibly of all other days, were troubled about many things.
Their lives were already full and, after the manner of
the Inn at Bethlehem, they had no room for the Great

Gift.

So it came about that the Great Light shone upon
the shepherds as they kept watch by night over the

226 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

sheep. An angel of the Lord stood by them and pro-
claimed the good tidings of great joy; then others of
the celestial band appeared, and they praised God, say-
ing— "Glory to God in the Highest.'' Angels! How
the word revives memories that bless and burn. An-
gels! Messengers of Almighty God; visitants from a
better order of society than this world of sin and death.
Angels! Blessed belief that God has His messengers
of mercy, His heralds of hope, His personal represen-
tatives who can go anywhere, at any time, under any
conditions. Angels! The word vivifies my remem-
brance of a little girl, nearing the boundaries of the
unseen and struggling for life; her speech no longer
coherent, but on her lips, clear and distinct, one word
was repeated over and over again — "Angels," "An-
gels," "Angels." Oh, the exquisite poetry, the lovely
language, the unending glory of this Christ Lyric of
Jesus' birth in Bethlehem.

It was not a mere contingency that the birth of Jesus
should be inseparably linked with peace among men.
Peace on earth is the note exultant in this lyric of
Christmas. The New Testament is a Book of peace,
not of battles ; a book that pronounces a blessing upon
the peace-makers and promises they shall be called the
children of God. Between the peace spirit and ideals
of the Gospels and the history of nineteen centuries
called Christian, there is something incongruous, dis-
cordant and discouraging. Save for brief seasons and
in restricted areas, Peace on Earth has not yet pre-
vailed. Christendom has much to her stock of credit — »
much that is glorious and monumental, but Christen-
dom has yet to know the victory of peace on earth. No

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 227

sadder spectacle has the world beheld than that of the
followers of the Prince of Peace hacking each other
down with the sword, assailing each other with gasses
that scorch and shrivel the lungs, blasting each other
to bits with bombs, drowning each other at sea by the
wholesale, hymning hate against each other to the bit-
ter end.

Peace on earth depends upon good will between men.
As long as hate reigns in the human heart, as long as
covetousness crowds out the spirit of brotherliness,
as long as jealousy and envy hold their sway over
mankind, so long will wars endure. Mere limitation
of armament is not enough — that of itself would be
only a makeshift if the causes that produce war are not
abolished. Destroy every battleship, scrap every sub-
marine, wreck every bombing plane, muster out the
soldiery now in ranks — do all this, but make no intelli-
gent and consistent effort to create a new heart in man
or open up a new outlet for his enthusiasms and ambi-
tions, and some kind of war enginery, like the harvest
of that famed crop of dragon teeth, will spring up
over night.

There are reasons for rejoicing this morning because
world peace is a little nearer than it was a year ago;
some progress has been made in the conference on Lim-
itation of Armaments at Washington. More people
are thinking peace today than ever before. The voice
of the people in solemn protest is being heard in the
councils of the nations with a new insistence ; but make
no mistake, the Millennium is not at hand. The voice
of the profiteer, the militarist, the granite-hearted ma-
terialist who walks by sight and not by faith — their

228 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

voices are still potent in behalf of armaments and a
continuance of the old order. Not only so, but the
motives for world peace must be deeper than for
mere economic reasons if peace on earth endure.

If Disarmament is desired chiefly because it would
reduce taxes and produce a revival of business, we may
believe that army and naval disarmament might come
to pass, and we should have in its stead a commercial
and industrial armament as deadly and as difficult to
conquer as the old and familiar kind. Peace on Earth
— well it simply cannot come until there is good will
among men. Good will among men is retarded by
racial pride, handicapped by commercial jealousies,
hindered by biased partisanship, crippled and ham-
strung by a mean and narrow sectarianism. The core
of Jesus' teaching is the supremacy of love and of sac-
rifice, the ministry of service and of mercy, the mighti
ness of right and justice. If we are to have peace
among men, men must know the peace which is Christ's.
His peace was an inward experience before it became
an outward manifestation. His peace was a result
of obedience to the laws of the Spirit. He walked in
full fellowship with the Father because from a child
He learned obedience. It is possible for society to keep
the laws in a formal way and still bend and break the
laws of love and remain anarchists in the realm of the
Spiritual. There will never be peace on earth until
that Gospel of good will which Jesus taught be medi-
ated through the lives of those who accept His teach-
ing, and narrow nationalism, racial hostilities and sec-
tarian bigotry give way to a Christian commonwealth
— worldwide in its scope.

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 229

In the very center of this matchless story is the
Child; the chief actor in this world drama 'is the Babe
at Bethlehem. The shepherds, the angels, the manger,
the star — these are all incidental. Christianity began
with a child, and no teaching of Jesus is more funda-
mental than when He said : "Suffer the little children
to come unto me; forbid them not, for of such is the
Kingdom of God." What gesture of Jesus was of
more consequence than when, having been asked by His
disciples who should be regarded as the greatest in the
Kingdom of Heaven, He called to Him a little child
and set him in the midst of them, and said : "Verily I
say unto you, except ye turn and become as little chil-
dren, ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of
Heaven." Childhood has been wronged terribly, and
the rights of the child have been as flagrantly disre-
garded as the rights of womanhood. Babies have not
always counted for much; there are places still where
they count for little. There are corners of the earth
where the Gospel has not yet come where babies, espe-
cially girl babies, are slain ruthlessly and in great
numbers; places where a puny or deformed baby is
quickly put out of the way. There are plague spots of
so-called Christian countries where babies are not born,
but damned into the world, with scarcely a chance to
live, to love and be loved. It was the Christ Himself
who declared that it was not God's will that His little
ones should perish. It is often man's will that the little
one suffer and die so young. Sometimes this is due
to ignorance, sometime^ to a perverse heart and a wrong
conception of what Christianity is.

Yes, a baby is in the center and at the very heart of

230 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

this lyric of Saint Luke's Gospel. God's greatest Gift
to the world came as a child — a helpless babe, born
amidst poverty and off to one side of the highways
of the world. Theodore Parker once said that a baby
is better for the heart than a whole academy of philoso-
phers, and of course he was right. A young mission-
ary madonna, after bending over her first-born, wrote
to friends at home — "I had no idea being a mother was
so wonderful." The advent of a child in a home is
always occasion for wonderment, a never-ceasing mir-
acle, and to the seeing eye every mother's man child
is haloed with a glory that only the mother-heart may
know. Wordsworth was never more seer-like than
when he wrote

Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

And there are other lines in the same noble ode that
have been praised much, but not too much —

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The soul that rises with us our life's star —

Hath had elsewhere its setting,

And cometh from afar,

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.

There is a something in the touch of the hand of a
little child more enchanting than that of a fairy's
wand. I can understand how the hard heart of the
leading character in a famous story melted utterly when
he felt a child's soft cheek against his, and the tiny
fingers on his neck and behind his ears and in his hair.

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 2S1

Then the trustfulness and the affection and the faith of
a little child : what is there in all the world so irresist-
ible?

Well do I remember arriving in the Union Station
at St Louis on a blustery winter night some years ago,
and alighting from the car with me was a young mother
and her baby, a beautiful child, possibly a year old.
She was heavily burdened with baggage, and I offered
to carry the child for her. She was a real mother, for
she took a good look at me — a searching look — and
then she handed the baby over to me. She expected to
be met by some of her kinspeople in the station, so she
informed me, but no one appeared, and after we had
waited and looked about for some little time she said,
"Would you mind keeping baby while I call up my rela-
tives here?" Time was when such a request would
have set me quaking and filled me with a nameless sort
of fear, but that time was a good ways in the past.
Only five hours before I had said good-by to my own
frisky five. So I kept baby, and his mother disappeared
in the direction of a telephone booth. She was gone a
good ten minutes, and during her absence I paced up
and down the long waiting room, holding the little
fellow snug in my arms. He was a dear; he was con-
tent; he trusted me perfectly. He rested his velvety
cheek against mine and gazed at me out of his big
blue eyes as one who had absolute faith, never doubt-
ing but that even a stranger would protect him from
the smallest harm. His little soft hand stole around
my neck and rested there ever so lightly. I thought of
the lines :

232 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUND

Softer it seemed than the softest down
On the breast of the gentlest dove
And its timid press and its sweet caress
Were strong in the strength of love.

By and by and his mother returned. I helped her and
her young son into a taxi and said good-night, and
the little stranger vanished out of my life as quickly as
he came into it, but he left a memory tender and
precious.

God hath joined together the cradle and Christmas.
Christianity has coronated childhood. God gives us
children, but the molding of them for better or for
worse — that ministry is our own. Christ put the child
in our midst, but society has for a greater part set
him to one side — neglected, slighted and wronged him.
If we want peace on earth there is a way to get it:
train the child in the teachings of Jesus; train him to
think peace, not war ; rear him in the ideals of brother-
hood; teach him the supremacy of service — but to do
that successfully the child must have for environment
a society that is Christian not only on Sunday but
seven days in the week.

Christmas helps us to evaluate the children in our
home at their true worth. Surely the blessed birthday
of our Lord is a family festival like unto no other.
There is a story which inspired a much admired paint-
ing called "Content." A Chinese beggar is shown
coming in before his king. With the beggar are two
small sons. He claims to be penniless; he asks for
money. The king promises to give him all that his
heart should desire, but there is one condition : the
beggar must give in return one half of his visible

THE CHRISTMAS LYRIC 233

wealth. To this he readily agrees for he believes he has
no wealth. Then the king mentions in detail his pay-
ment, and the first item he calls for is one of the lads.
The beggar had not thought of his boys as wealth and
he is staggered by the request. In the end, the mendi-
cant goes away from the court with an arm about each
boy, content with what he has. The story is good as
far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. It is costly
to rear children and give them a chance in the world.
If society were really Christian, beggars would be rare,
and rarer still the children of beggars, to be dwarfed,
hindered and cursed by poverty's blight.

Christmas in many a home this year cannot but be
different from Christmas of a year ago. Oh, what a
company of children whose shouts and merry laughter
made music a year ago have since gone from us by
way of the great pilgrimage of death. How small their
feet, and how brave to take that long journey with
never a doubt or a fear! Thrice blessed is the truth
that the Christmas lyric includes not only poetry,
charm and color but comfort as well. He whose birth
we commemorate, — He who said: "Suffer the little
children to come unto Me," — shall He not bless and
comfort the heavy heart in the homes where Christmas
today is not the same nor ever can be as it was ere the
charmed circle was broken? It was the Christ who
said of these little ones, "their angels do always behold
the face of my Father Who is in Heaven."

O Christmas, merry Christmas!

Is it really come again?
With its memories and greetings,

With its joy and with its pain.

234 WHEN JESUS WROTE ON THE GROUNE

There's a minor in the carol,

And a shadow in the light,
And a spray of cypress twining

With the holly-wreath tonight.
And the hush is never broken

By laughter, light and low,
As we listen in the starlight

To the "bells across the snow."

O Christmas, merry Christmas!

'Tis not so very long
Since other voices blended

With the carol and the song!
If we could but hear them singing

As they are singing now,
If we could but see the radiance

Of the crown on each dear brow,
There would be no sighs to smother,

No hidden tear to flow,
As we listen in the starlight

To the "bells across the snow."

O Christmas, merry Christmas!

This never more can be;
We cannot bring again the days

Of our unshadowed glee.
But Christmas, happy Christmas,

Sweet herald of goodwill,
With holy songs of glory

Brings holy gladness still.
For peace and hope may brighten,

And patient love may glow,
As we listen in the starlight

To the "bells across the snow."

3477

Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process.
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide
Treatment Date: April 2006

PreservationTechnologies

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
(724)779-2111

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

0 017 645 289 4

mnm

mSSm